Come all ye self-styled chefs and kitchen users, we must talk.

Robear wrote:

B... What? Veggies? Why?

"Butter your bacon, boy!"

Ooohh … very nice. I’ve made bacon sammies before but not like that. Definitely giving that one a go. Thanks!

They literally have you put the bacon back into the melted butter. The Simpsons never lie!

But yes, it is the Bacon Sarnie of my dreams...

PaladinTom wrote:

I once thought as you did until I saw the light. Bacon is great but there can also be too much of a good thing.

I once ordered a BLT from a deli and had to take some bacon off because they loaded so much on.

Kenji knows his sh*t too.

It's more about me not liking tomatoes on a sandwich, a burger, well... anything. They're like pickles - fine by themselves, but they don't belong on anything.

The blitzed tomato dust -> paste seems interesting, though. My dehydrator is on the fritz at the moment or I'd think about giving it a try. After making 10 or so pounds of jerky, of course.

-BEP

Making freshly caught chinook cedar planked on grill right now. We just got another chinook in the river today too. Life is good.

bepnewt wrote:

It's more about me not liking tomatoes on a sandwich, a burger, well... anything. They're like pickles - fine by themselves, but they don't belong on anything.

That's my general stance as well. A slice of tomato will overwhelm the texture of anything that its added to. Lettuce and Tomato as a default topping on a sandwich? No thanks. Something with as big a presence as a tomato slice must be applied with thought and care.

But on a BLT the tomato isn't added to the sandwich. The tomato is the core of the sandwich. That's why it works.

The core? I guess that's why it's called a TLB sandwich, then.

Robear wrote:

The core? I guess that's why it's called a TLB sandwich, then. :-)

That's not in alphabetical order.

Sure it is! Z, Y, X, W....

bepnewt wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:

I once thought as you did until I saw the light. Bacon is great but there can also be too much of a good thing.

I once ordered a BLT from a deli and had to take some bacon off because they loaded so much on.

Kenji knows his sh*t too.

It's more about me not liking tomatoes on a sandwich, a burger, well... anything. They're like pickles - fine by themselves, but they don't belong on anything.

The blitzed tomato dust -> paste seems interesting, though. My dehydrator is on the fritz at the moment or I'd think about giving it a try. After making 10 or so pounds of jerky, of course.

-BEP

Understood. My son doesn’t like tomatoes either. Or pickles.

Spoiler:

I’m also an extra pickles guy.

Robear wrote:

The core? I guess that's why it's called a TLB sandwich, then. :-)

Marketing is a thing, and bacon has the lead there. Doesn't change what the sandwich is. It's kind of like how McDonalds claims to sell a "hamburger."

On the subject of pickles, I believe that my preferences are the rarest on the planet. Most people fall into one of two camps: either they do not eat pickles at all or they will scarf down as many as they can get their hands on. When I encounter a pickle garnish on my plate I will eat it and genuinely enjoy it, but I do not desire more than the one. This frustrates both of the more common camps, who want to either consume my pickle or offload their own, but that is not my problem.

Vargen wrote:

On the subject of pickles, I believe that my preferences are the rarest on the planet. Most people fall into one of two camps: either they do not eat pickles at all or they will scarf down as many as they can get their hands on. When I encounter a pickle garnish on my plate I will eat it and genuinely enjoy it, but I do not desire more than the one. This frustrates both of the more common camps, who want to either consume my pickle or offload their own, but that is not my problem.

Haha. This is me with watermelon and mango. My family doesn't understand it.

Vargen wrote:

Marketing is a thing, and bacon has the lead there. Doesn't change what the sandwich is. It's kind of like how McDonalds claims to sell a "hamburger." :P

Or like how we no longer call it a "hamburger sandwich" even though that's obviously what it is, right.

The name is not marketing, it's likely derived from server's shorthand for the order. It's left as an exercise for the reader to decide why, in recipes and popular culture, the bacon is always mentioned first.

The bacon requires cooking while the tomato does not? Recipes seem to love the whole "prep this while this other thing cooks" directions.

Which is bullsh*t by the way. If I knew what I was doing well enough to pull that off then I wouldn't need to be referring to the recipe in the first place. Prep everything before heating anything, otherwise frustration sets in and the dog hides under the table until Mom gets home.

(Unmedicated ADHD and caring for a 17 month old may be factors in the above.)

Vargen wrote:

The bacon requires cooking while the tomato does not? Recipes seem to love the whole "prep this while this other thing cooks" directions.

Lol. I hate “30 Minute” recipe article headlines that neglect to mention the fourteen hours of prep that’s also required.

If you need a quick bacon fix, microwaving it is a very viable option.

Of course, whenever I open a package for just a couple of strips, I then feel compelled to eat bacon every day for the rest of the week.

We only do bacon when we're hosting people for brunch, so's we don't gorge ourselves on leftovers and have our hearts up and give out. Usually we'll do it all in the oven to keep it out of the way of everything else. The down side to that is the baking pans don't really fit in the dishwasher and it makes cleanup kind of annoying.

We decided to get the cadillac of Zojirushis after my original died recently. Battery had been out for some time which was fixable. It still worked despite that. Then it started having power issues when plugged in. Something was fried on a circuit board or something. Got more than my money's worth out of it. Given how much we used that one, we figured it was worth splurging on the nicest one. Five-star rice! Made in Japan!

IMAGE(https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0348/3467/7900/products/NW-JEC10_1946x.jpg?v=1652304259)

Testing now...

Now I need to find out how to mod it so that it plays the Imperial March when you start the rice...

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Now I need to find out how to mod it so that it plays the Imperial March when you start the rice...

That would be awesome! Find out and tell us all!

Finally was able to make time this past week to snag a new air fryer as the old one was long in the tooth and didn't make the move to Houston.

IMAGE(https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.N98fFt5fih1ZtdBbMDJ3hgHaE8&pid=Api&P=0)

I sooooo missed being able to quickly "fry" up some fries and other veggies.

Okay, bear with me here. I came across a recipe on Smartnews today, from Buzzfeed. (I know, right?) But this was from David Chang's Tik Tok; he is the owner of Momofuku so when he talks food, I listen.

I listened, and man, I'm so happy I did.

Maybe other people do this but I have never done it before.

Anyway, he put up a recipe for salmon. In the microwave. It's absolutely amazing and cooks the fish brilliantly. It tastes like restaurant fish, it's tender, flakey, moist and has enough sauce to be sopped up by rice or potatoes or bread, whatever, as an accompaniment. You could add a salad if you're feeling a lack of green.

It's very simple. (All measurements are US.)

One tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
One teaspoon agave nectar (or honey, fine granulated maple sugar, anything that will dissolve into the sauce because this is not complicated)
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt (he says 1/2, but honestly, that's restaurant salt levels and too much for me, but you do you)

About 12 ounces of fresh or thawed salmon, skin on or off. Doesn't matter. Might work with other fish, I dunno.

A plate or microwave safe bowl or container (glass or ceramic, please). It has to be able to be *loosely* covered so it steams but does not explode. In other words, vent it please.

Mix up the dry and wet ingredients so it's a nice liquid. I just spooned mine evenly over the fish in a shallow soup bowl, then poured the rest over the top. You can brush it on or fondle it with your fingers, like he does. Just get it all over the top of the fish, then pour the rest in.

Now microwave it for 3 minutes, covered (up to five minutes for low-powered microwaves, but check it after 3 I guess. Maybe after 2.5. Let it stand for one minute, then serve. It and the bowl will be hot.

It's absolutely amazing - flakey, tender and moist, salty, sweet and seasoned - and about 10 minutes total to fix. If that. I'm gobsmacked. Lick the plate good. Try it and let us know what you think!

Fish in the microwave... Who knew?

Robear wrote:

Fish in the microwave... Who knew?

So... try it for lunch at work first?

The smell is not fishy. It's soy sauce with whatever you mixed in.

Robear wrote:

You can ... fondle it with your fingers, like he does.

Pretty sure that baking salmon in the oven only takes 15 minutes? But I guess between preheat time is a bit more.

It cooked in the microwave in THREE minutes, Stele. THREE!!!1!111!!!

Stele wrote:

Pretty sure that baking salmon in the oven only takes 15 minutes? But I guess between preheat time is a bit more.

Soaking the cedar plank takes a good half hour.

Jonman wrote:
Stele wrote:

Pretty sure that baking salmon in the oven only takes 15 minutes? But I guess between preheat time is a bit more.

Soaking the cedar plank takes a good half hour.

I bet it would be quicker in the microwave.

Robear wrote:

It cooked in the microwave in THREE minutes, Stele. THREE!!!1!111!!!

Haha I was going off the 10 minutes total. Feels like it only takes 25-30 in the oven because season while it's preheating. But ok ok, maybe I can talk the wife into trying it once.