Saturday surprise post: Liveblogging America’s Test Kitchen 29 March 2008 2:26 pm
Posted by Tracy in : America's Test Kitchen, geekery, food snobbery, kitchen gear, seasonality, books, vegetarian, Morning Glory, cooking , trackbackAsk me about my fangirlhood! Here I go:
Some time this week when I checked the TV listings: “Reinventing Pasta and Tomatoes” — I accept!
2 PM: Looks like the lineup is penne à la vodka with Becky, pasta tasting with Jack, stockpots with Adam, and pasta caprese with Julia.
I accept again!
2:02 PM: Chris Kimball’s intro: no-name vodka makes raw, harsh sauce — don’t do it.
Off to the kitchen now, where Becky is so earnest.
2:03 PM: They’ve changed food processor brands/models! Huh. 1/4 cup onions is not very much at all. Neither is 2 cloves of garlic and 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes. I like a little overkill, I guess. I also like to cook booze on heat and flame on. Which reminds me — the week before last I was making a Fusion at Morning Glory and had the big halo of flaming fumes over the pan after adding the sherry, and wandered off to grab the potato shell from the fridge, and over at the dish sink Minette sort of stared at me and asked, “Is it okay that that’s on fire?” Comedy gold. But back to the show.
2:07 PM: Jack talking about fancy pricey $5/pound pasta — was this taped before all the bioethanol madness drove grain prices up all over the world? Just wondering. (Actually, I have a theory about when these are taped and it’s kinda funny to watch now that the shows aired on OPB are catching up to the recipes in Cook’s Illustrated.) I love how Jack always makes fun of Chris’s taste… and hey, for once Chris chose the expensive option, though once again he picked the tasters’ least favorite.
2:10 PM: Back to Becky. Oh the fresh basil, so I can’t quite make this with ingredients I have at home…. I do like Chris making fun of people putting too much sauce on their pasta, though. It seems like Becky’s still intimidated to be sharing the screen with him; I miss Bridget.
2:12 PM: Chris introduces pasta caprese with big blobs of melted mozz. So sad! But Julia will fix it. Peter says it seems like they call in Julia when they have a real cooking problem to solve. I LOVE HER. I could watch her chop onions all day… maybe she’ll do it today… ooh, no, shallots! Oh baby. I could watch that all day, I really could. Julia’s knifework, I love it forever.
2:15 PM: Marinating the tomatoes in the little shallot-garlic-lemon vinaigrette dressing… I love it. Brilliant. Now to watch Julia kick fresh mozzerella hiney… with the freezer. Again with the brilliant.
2:17 PM: Campanelle is a new pasta shape for me, but of course I like it. Mmm, pasta.
2:18 PM: It occurs to me they’ve actually done a vegetarian episode here. How unusual! And happy-making for the ol’ Tracemonster.
2:19 PM: Stockpots with Adam. I’ve already got a stockpot but I love it and have no plans to make with the replacing. Still, I will note what they like:
- Shape: Not too tall and skinny, more on the short and squat size.
- Weight: Heavyweights don’t scorch stuff like chili, lighter weight pots pull a Trogdor. Good times.
- Handles: Easy to grip, especially when using oven mitts.
Chris’s Yankee sensibilities are ever so offended by the $300+ stockpot! Fortunately, Adam has a cheaper alternative.
2:22 PM: Back to Julia, giving me sharp knife envy. Mine would wreck that ever-so-not-in-season fresh basil in its current dullness.
2:23 PM: Okay, I’m hungry now. Did they salt and pepper the caprese? I don’t think so, which is sort of a surprise. I guess there was salt in the dressing…
2:24 PM: And that’s it. On to the plugs, which reminds me to add some of mine. I’m already subscribed to Cook’s Illustrated
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