Category Archives: Cooking

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

Perfect hardboiled eggs in the Instant Pot

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers

We tend to tune out a lot of the fan chatter about the Instant Pot, especially when folks start talking about how to cook something in the IP that has no business there—like prime rib!—or something that would be just … Continue reading →

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Recipe: Chicago-Style Beef for sandwiches

Posted on September 15, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers

Chicago-style beef for sandwiches is a big winner: rich, beefy, juicy and fall-apart tender. Drench it in jus, add some of our Chicago-style giardiniera and maybe a bit of provolone, and you’ve got just about the perfect sandwich. Ingredients: 3 … Continue reading →

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Mistakes in making gumbo

Posted on September 12, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers

The other day I had a pound of just-harvested okra and decided I would make gumbo. I heated maybe ¼ c of olive oil and added the Holy Trinity of chopped onion, celery and green pepper, about 2/3 c each. … Continue reading →

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Recipe: Chicago-Style Giardiniera

Posted on September 1, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers

We have some Chicago-style Italian beef sandwiches in our future for which Chicago-Style Giardiniera is a key component. Compared to our standard giardiniera it’s spicier, and contains oil. I long resisted the oil but am happy with the result. It … Continue reading →

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Food for thought: Lebanese food blogs

Posted on August 29, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers

A search for the best way to cook dried chickpeas led us to the Forks and Foliage Lebanese food blog. It’s a fairly new blog with just a few recipes but its author obviously has big plans judging from the … Continue reading →

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Trader Joe’s Premium Peeled Garlic

Posted on July 29, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers

I use a lot of garlic when I cook. I hate peeling garlic. Ergo, I use already-peeled garlic cloves. I have tried several brands from Asian markets and also the Spice World brand, which is sold at my local big … Continue reading →

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In search of the elusive chuck eye steak

Posted on July 20, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers

I was lucky in my experiment breaking down a chuck roast that I got one with a nice chuck eye steak included. This is by no means guaranteed. According to this source, there are no more than 2-3 chuck eye … Continue reading →

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Breaking down a chuck roast

Posted on July 14, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers

I used to sell meat for a living (Allen Brothers, Niman Ranch mail order) yet for the life of me I cannot reliably break down a larger cut of beef. Part of the problem is that the roasts marketed by … Continue reading →

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July 4th Barbecue

Posted on July 3, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers

We have a “Firecracker 4” run in our town that attracts thousands of visitors and our friends’ son Shea Weilbaker has won it twice in a row. We’ll go downtown to see if he three-peats, then turn our attention to … Continue reading →

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My grape jelly secret

Posted on March 16, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers

Actually I have two grape jelly secrets. The first is that it is a surprising ingredient in our Mystery Mayo, the doenjang dressing in Koreatown A Cookbook and in this collection which aptly describes it as “bright, lightly colored and … Continue reading →

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