In December 2011, Michael Ohene, author of the Analyzing a Baking Recipe article, sent me a new essay (on creating personalized cookie recipes) and a link to an online tool he wrote that generates cookie recipes on demand (Create-a-Cookie). I was immediately a fan of the flexibility of the cookie generator (Just tell it what type of cookie, how rich, and how sweet you want it and it randomly generates a cookie of the type you want. Don't like the ingredients? No problem, just generate another set of ingredients. Then have it display the detailed recipe in whatever units you prefer.) and agreed to publish Michael's article.

Real hot chocolate is made by melting chocolate into either milk or water. It has a richer and fuller taste than hot cocoa because of the extra cocoa butter present in the chocolate. There are plenty of internet recipes for hot chocolate, but all the ones I found ended up with a grainy (very fine sandy) texture. Making hot chocolate so it is silky smooth requires a little technique, but isn't difficult to do. Here's my technique for perfect hot chocolate.


Perfect Hot Chocolate (serves 1)


Perfect Hot Chocolate (serves 4)

Shopping for the perfect gift for someone who is analytical can often be difficult. Engineers and other people who like to specialize, research, and focus are often very particular about what they want to receive as gifts. If you or a loved one enjoys reading Cooking For Engineers, here are ten books sure to please!

A few weeks ago, I was tasting butter pecan ice cream (my favorite flavor) from Graeter's for the first time. Unfortunately, the carton had probably been mishandled before I got it because the ice cream was a bit icy, difficult to scoop, and had a weird almost artificial taste that I couldn't quite place. It was so disappointing that I wanted to run to the store and buy some butter pecan ice cream (this was just before our local grocery store started to carry Graeter's), but instead I ordered a copy of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home and made my own. This recipe is actually Butter Ice Cream with Honey Pecan Pralines and is one of the best homemade ice creams you can make.


Butter Pecan Ice Cream (makes about 1 quart / 1 L)

Pralines are nuts in candy form and this recipe makes crunchy toasted honey pralines that are excellent for topping desserts or blending into ice cream. This recipe only takes a few minutes to make and can be easily modified to use your favorite nuts.


Honey Pecan Pralines (makes about 1-1/2 cups)

In June 2011, we had the opportunity to visit Chicago for a week. In addition to visiting museums, tourist attractions, and parks, we ate deep dish pizza, toured the Vienna Beef Factory, dined at Rick Bayless's restaurants and the world famous Alinea, and much more. Here's what we did...

Our reservation for Alinea (booked over two months out and acquired by luck) was what dictated the timing of our trip to Chicago in 2011. We were planning on visiting the Windy City a full month earlier, but couldn't get a reservation at this world famous center of avante garde cuisine until June 22nd at 9:15pm. We planned the rest of the trip around this meal with approximately equal days before and after to ensure that we wouldn't feel rushed or overwhelmed with settling in or packing up. The meal was an unforgettable experience and yet felt lacking. Much of the experience at Alinea relies on surprise, so only read on if you don't mind some spoilers!

This is the second part of the overview of our June 2011 trip to Chicago. For the first part of our trip, please see Chicago 2011 Part 1a - Overview

As part of our June 2011 trip to Chicago, we had some delicious dim sum at Shui Wah Chinese Cuisine in Chinatown Square. We also visited Santa Anna Bakery (in the same mall) a couple of times for some delicious Chinese pastries.

As part of our June 2011 trip to Chicago, we had the opportunity to eat at two famous pizzerias: Pizzeria Uno (at the original East Ohio Street location) and Giordano's (on Rush Street).

During our June 2011 trip to Chicago, I wanted to make sure we ate at one of Chicago's famous steakhouses. Gibson's Bar and Grill kept showing up in different people's lists as the number one steakhouse in Chicago, so that's where we went.

For a few years now, I've wanted to taste the food at Frontera Grill. Rick Bayless makes his food look so inviting and enticing on television that we had to try it for ourselves. Are we glad we did! We ended up eating at Frontera Grill twice, once at Xoco (Bayless's cafe two doors down), and also at a Frontera Fresco (their fast food locations). All were superb and it's definitely worth the trip to Chicago to eat at these restaurants!

Macy's State Street department store is housed in the original Marshall Field and Company Building (111 North State Street, Chicago, IL). Hidden in plain view on the seventh floor is a food court (not to be confused with the basement food court) they call Seven on State. This food court has five quick service restaurants with three of them backed by celebrity chefs: Noodles by Takashi Yagihashi, Marc Burger (Marcus Samuelsson), and Frontera Fresco (Rick Bayless). I had a taste of all three.

Chicago-style hot dogs are made only with Vienna Beef brand hot dogs. At least that's what hot dog vendors who sell Vienna Beef sausages in Chicago will tell you. When I found out that Vienna Beef gives weekly tours of their factory to the public, I signed up immediately. Unfortunately, they were booked (they get booked up several weeks in advance). Fortunately, they allowed us to join up with a private tour they were doing the next day (where they even allowed photography - something the public tour is discouraged from doing)!

When Saveur magazine called Girl and the Goat the best new restaurant in the United States and I realized it was in Chicago, I made a reservation during our upcoming trip. When I found out that they were also nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Restaurant (2011), I got really excited. Our late dinner (10pm) at Girl & the Goat, while not as amazing as the title "best new restaurant" would lead us to believe, was fun and not at all disappointing (except we didn't get to meet Stephanie Izard).

After reading Michael's comments about measuring wheat flour accurately, it inspired me to do some testing myself.


This article contributed by April Jones from http://www.kitchen-blender-reviews.com/.

Regular readers of my blog on Orthogonal Thought will know that I love The Noble Pig's sandwiches. What I haven't mentioned before are the dinners that occur only once a month. These dinners are delightful arrangements of local flavors and fresh vegetables prepared with a deftness that reveals that The Noble Pig is no mere sandwich shop.

Because elBulli is preparing to close its doors as a restaurant in a few months and reopen in 2014 as the elBulli Foundation ("a center for creativity" focused solely on experimenting and creating new food and food preparation techniques), a lot of articles have been written about Ferran Adrià and elBulli in the last year (including an illuminating biography by Saveur co-founder Colman Andrews). Nothing written so far has been as captivating to me as Lisa Abend's The Sorcerer's Apprentices which follows Abend and her fellow stagiaires through a season at elBulli (including the moment that Ferran decides to close elBulli).


The Sorcerer's Apprentices is available in the following formats:
Hardcover
Kindle

Last night, we had the best meal we've eaten in Austin, Texas so far. This meal was better than that exceptional first meal at Uchi we had almost three years ago. The food was impeccably prepared and the level of execution was beyond anything we've experienced in Austin. Congress could easily be transplanted to any major city and still qualify as one of the best fine dining experiences in that region.

Jordan Milford put six ceramic chef's knives through their paces and provided this complete write up revealing that not all ceramic knives are equal.