Category Archives: Cooking

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

The difference between home cooks and professional chefs

The other day I got pressed into service on a canning operation. My job was to peel 25 pounds of tomatoes and pass them on to be made into sauce. This required the set-up you see here: a pot of … Continue reading

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The five most popular recipes on Burnt My Fingers (2015 Edition)

I usually do this on our anniversary in September, but am feeling summer laziness so it becomes a fill-in post right now in late July. Anyway, with thousands of clicks apiece, these five most popular recipes are so far ahead … Continue reading

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Eating sous vide steak with the Emperor

This weekend I fired up the Anova sous vide cooker I bought on sale at Amazon.com to make some sous vide steaks. A friend had been hankering for a “steak dinner” so I pulled out a porterhouse, a big sirloin … Continue reading

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How do you like your olive oil to taste?

The folks at California Olive Ranch are conducting an interesting marketing experiment. In my supermarket currently are 500 ML bottles of their Extra Virgin Olive Oil, evenly distributed between olive oils that say “Mild & Buttery” and “Rich & Robust”. … Continue reading

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Battle Mandram: A family history

Judy Cromwell is a longtime friend who frequently comments on my recipes. She agreed to share her Mandram recipe and contributed this bonus description of her family’s tussles with this dish through the decades. Chef Otis’ interest in recreating southern … Continue reading

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How I made sourdough bread in a hotel room, sort of

Staying this week in a hotel room with a kitchenette, I decided to build on my experience with hotel room kale salad. Was it possible to come up with an edible loaf using only flour, water, store-bought yeast and salt? … Continue reading

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How to get big(ger) holes in your baguettes

[New to Burnt My Fingers? See UPDATE at the end of this post.] Big, lacy holes are a right of passage in baguette making. Big holes in baguettes mean an airy, well-made loaf with a chewy, tasty crumb. Contributing factors … Continue reading

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A tour of Chinese vinegars

I was going to do a post on Chinese vinegars when I ran across this Youtube video. Cooking teacher Eileen Lo takes us on a tour of an oddly non-busy grocery in New York’s Chinatown and tells not only what … Continue reading

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Jake’s Famous Barbecue Sauce… good enough to pour on my meat!

Of the hundreds of products I tasted at last month’s Winter Fancy Food Show, Jake’s Famous barbecue sauces really stood out. His Asian-inspired Blue Oak reminded me of the complex espresso sauce provided at the legendary Franklin’s in Austin. It … Continue reading

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Recipe: Nair’s “National Dish” Feijoada

My friend Nair Wolf, a chef who hails from Brazil, has shared her recipe for this legendary one-dish meal. The following is a restaurant-size prep that will serve 15-20 people but because there so many ingredients I’d advise you to … Continue reading

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