Hollandaise and Mayonnaise

Both Hollandaise and Mayonnaise are oil-in-water emulsions based on a raw egg yolk (or whole raw egg). Making both of them requires raw egg yolk / whole egg, and the addition of mustard, and then the slow adding (or mixing-in) of oil or butter. Mayonnaise is cold and Hollandaise is hot. Mayonnaise is Spanish and ... Read more

Homemade Ice Cream

The best approach I have seen is to basically use a blender with whipping cream, add honey (or sugar, not condensed milk), and then add additional items to this base, such as: Vanilla extract and vanilla bean caviar (add the spent pod to your sugar jar) Cacao and chocolate chips Strawberry compote (extra honey if ... Read more

Homemade English Muffins

As someone who grew up on Thomas' English Muffins, I had no idea that there was such discord in the culinary community as to how to cook the damned things. I also consider it a distinct failing that it took me until I was 51 years old to actually cook my first English muffin. This ... Read more

Eating Fish Raw and Cooked

Parasites Freezing Fish, Killing Parasites Almost Every Kind of Wild Fish is Infected with Worms > "I don't eat raw fish because of what I've seen," admitted the fish purveyor, who sells to many of the city's top restaurants. "I don't eat sushi anymore." > > ... > > "I urge people not to cook ... Read more

Homemade Mozarella Cheese

Many various Mozarella recipes The Kitchn - Mozarella recipe - try this one first Serious Eats - Mozarella recipe 30 Minute Mozarella recipe - Cheesemaking.com Cultured (traditional) Mozarella recipe - Cheesemaking.com Need Rennet for Mozarella Curd - Yes and No 30 Minute Mozarella recipe - Cultures for Health Traditional Mozarella recipe - Cultures for Health ... Read more

Cream Cheese vs. Mascarpone

Many Mommy and Cooking blogs give a recipe for Cream Cheese which does not include any culture or rennet. That is simply misinformed. Especially for those who claim a cooking pedigree. Honestly, the lies are thick out there. In any case, there is a simple dichotomy when making soft cheeses, in terms of cream cheese ... Read more

Happiness Measurement

Having spent quite a few hours for several years in statistics classes, the importance of the operationalization of measurements has been clearly impressed upon me. And so, with things such as happiness, it becomes quite a task to measure this. Luckily there is a diversity of governments and non-government agencies in the world, and so ... Read more

Windows 7 Applications

I got a new Asus Zenbook with Windows 7 in order to future-proof myself against Windows 8 (I'll wait until Windows 9, or Ubuntu 14.10, thank you very much). This was back in December, 2012. I've since sold this (two months ago), but have kept this post, for posterity. Installed Applications Here are the applications ... Read more

The Best Mentors

There are some useful nuggets of information hidden within this latest talk by Kate Mitchell on Own your Own Success. The discussion on mentors and mentorship is one of them. Mentors as a Composite Mentors need not be a single person or a set of people but are more likely a composite of many people, ... Read more