Category Archives: Cooking

Here you’ll find everything about cooking that isn’t actually a recipe. Tips, techniques, gripes, whatever.

Food for Thought: The Casual Sourdough Baker

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Burnt My Fingers

The King Arthur Flour website is always a good resource for recipes and baking tips, but PJ Hamel’s blog The Casual Sourdough Baker is especially welcome in these times. As she puts it, “I’ve always been a rather casual baker. … Continue reading →

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How to find hot spots in your oven

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Burnt My Fingers

I fell into a deep slumber during The Weekend’s LV Super Bowl halftime show and badly overcooked my Oven-Roasted Buffalo Wings. The wings on the bottom rack were salvageable but those on the top shelf were literally toast. This motivated … Continue reading →

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Share recipes, not COVID, during the Super Bowl

Posted on February 6, 2021 by Burnt My Fingers

COVID wings! The CDC is recommending we celebrate Super Bowl Sunday with as many virtual activities as possible, such as sharing recipes for wings and other snacks, vs getting together in person and yelling in one another’s faces. Sounds good … Continue reading →

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Thai secret sauces: Gold Mountain and Healthy Boy

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Burnt My Fingers

Thai secret sauces probably aren’t essential to cooking authentic Thai dishes, but they’re a powerful short cut and I suspect part of most street vendors’ repertoire. Gold Mountain Seasoning Sauce is the saltiest soy sauce you have ever tasted; it … Continue reading →

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On the floor at Fancy Food Show 2021

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Burnt My Fingers

No, not really. In a normal year we’d be on our way to San Francisco for the Winter Fancy Food Show 2021 where we’d sample wares, talk to producers, and guess what food trends would be hot and not in … Continue reading →

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A beefy bargain from Wild Fork Foods

Posted on January 8, 2021 by Burnt My Fingers

A whole, USDA Prime brisket for $2.98 a pound? Yes, please! That’s a price I’ve encountered only once before, during a sale at H.E.B. in Austin, and it’s not much more than I pay for Choice at Walmart. Plus it’s … Continue reading →

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Anatomy of a recipe fail

Posted on January 5, 2021 by Burnt My Fingers

When you have a recipe fail as badly as my attempt to replicate the clam pie served at Frank Pepe’s in New Haven, you might wonder how any attempt to make a dish outside your experience could ever succeed. But … Continue reading →

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What happened to your sourdough starter in 2020?

Posted on January 1, 2021 by Burnt My Fingers

As we sweep 2020 into the trash bin of history, one of the year’s less serious losses is likely to be ignored: all the sourdough starters that folks initiated as a quarantine activity, then abandoned because they weren’t successful or … Continue reading →

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Maesri Thai curry sauces

Posted on December 10, 2020 by Burnt My Fingers

Maesri Thai curry sauces come in little cans in a wide variety of flavors, and can be used to create a complex flavor profile in minutes. Each can is not much more than a buck in my Asian market so … Continue reading →

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Release the quesabirria!

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Burnt My Fingers

We were supposed to be in San Francisco this week, but the trip was cancelled due to rising COVID numbers. One of the things on our checklist was a visit to the Mission for quesabirria tacos, specifically to El Patron … Continue reading →

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