The Foodening Blog: Kitchen Notes

This is just a listing of kitchen notes in this blog. They are my musings about food and food prep. Maybe I should organize these by topic instead of chrono order.

The first posts:

The blog's name origin https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2008/06/foodening.html,

Experimental cooking https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2007/02/cooking-mad-scientist-way.html

https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2006/02/kitchen-madness.html

Pantry Management & Ingredients

Asian grocery store https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2007/03/food-gathering-asian-style.html

Winter Asian grocery shopping https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2007/12/asian-shopping-list-dec-07.html

40/60 organic https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2008/04/to-be-or-not-to-be-organic.html

Gold standard of chocolate https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2010/11/kitchen-note-chocolate.html

Regional wild game meat (PDX) https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2011/03/wild-game-meat-in-pdx.html

PNW Harvest Calendar https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2011/03/pacific-northwest-harvest-calendar.html

Ingredient Sourcing https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2011/09/kitchen-notes-ingredient-sourcing-tips.html

Ingredient Cycling https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2012/01/kitchen-notes-ingredient-cycling.html

Regional wild game meat (Seattle) https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2012/09/king-county-butcher-shops-meat-markets.html

Fat Tuesday https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2013/02/ingredient-sourcing-fat-tuesday.html

Yeast, pt 1 https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2020/08/active-dry-yeast.html

Yeast, pt 2 https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2020/08/kitchen-notes-yeast-part-ii.html

Post pandemic pantry, pt 1 https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2023/04/post-pandemic-pantry-management.html

Post pandemic pantry, pt 2 https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2023/04/post-pandemic-pantry-management-pt-2.html

Food Prep & Processing

Chocolate chunks https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2006/03/chunks-vs-chips.html

Storing Tofu https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2007/05/tofu-trick.html

Preserving fresh garlic https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2008/10/garlic-in-jar.html

Rehydrating dried fruit https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2010/10/kitchen-note-dried-fruit-rehydration.html

Canned tuna https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2010/12/kitchen-note-canned-tuna.html

Preparing Squid https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2011/01/kitchen-note-squid.html

Sundried tomato cheese spread https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2011/04/kitchen-note-about-that-farmers-cheese.html

Thin crust pizza https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2011/05/kitchen-note-secret-life-of-pizza.html

Making a good cuppa joe https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2011/08/kitchen-notes-brewing-good-cuppa-joe.html

Black bean brownies from scratch https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2011/09/kitchen-notes-black-bean-preparation.html

Substitutions https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2011/12/kitchen-note-subtitutions.html

T-day sides (2012) https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2012/11/kitchen-note-thanksgiving-on-sides.html

Rosemary Sourdough https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2013/05/kitchen-notes-rosemary-sourdough-bread.html

Basic Cheesemaking https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2014/09/kitchen-notes-paneer-vs-farmers-cheese.html

Meal Prep (work day breakfast to go) https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2015/04/workday-breakfasts-to-go.html

Pumpkin https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2015/08/kitchen-notes-everything-pumpkin.html

Measuring Flour https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2015/12/kitchen-notes-measuring-flour.html

Swiss Roll https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2016/02/kitchen-notes-matcha-swiss-roll.html

Green Tea Electrolytes https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2016/04/kitchen-notes-green-tea-c-electrolyte.html

Canning (2018) https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2018/06/canning-2018.html

Hatch Chili Salsa https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2018/09/hatch-chile-salsa-version-2.html

Canning Fruit Juice https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2018/10/kitchen-notes-canning-unsweetened-fruit.html

Faux Cheese, pt 2 (cashews) https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2023/09/will-real-cheese-please-stand-up.html

Tools

Being Asian, my friends guffaw at the notion that I do not own a rice cooker. Look, there are plenty of other ways (besides stovetop) to cook rice. AB has an easy process for baking rice in the oven. And, now with the Ninja Foodi, I can pressure cook a batch of rice from raw grains in less than 10 mins.

That said I also don't own a microwave oven, a popcorn maker (I do stovestop popcorn), stand blender (I have a trusty immersion blender), toaster, or bread machine. I picked up two appliances from neighborhood garage sales: a 5-quart KitchenAid stand mixer (ridiculously priced!) and a waffle maker (was $2).

Using a chisel on chocolate https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2008/02/wahaa.html

Silicone soap mould for custom confections https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2008/11/dark-chocolate-molds.html

Easy Veggie Wash https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2011/04/kitchen-note-easy-veggie-wash.html

Managing Allergies

Also, why I cook from scratch https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2006/03/food-rebels_09.html

The Experiments

You only get better with practice. How did I learn how to carve poultry? I looked at diagrams in the Joy of Cooking and proceeded to break down a lot of whole chickens. At every T-day dinner, potluck, or picnic, I offered to carve the bird. It only took a dozen whole birds and a really sharp chef knife to learn how to do it right for both raw and cooked.

The creme brulee experiment wasn't really to learn how to make the custard. Anyone can do that. The experiment was all about learning how to burn sugar evenly with a kitchen torch. Who doesn't love playing with fire?

Sometimes the most productive time is making a batch of cookies after a long, unproductive day at the office. And then, deciding that everything is a reject and eating them all. https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2008/02/o-madeline.html

Udon sauce re-creation https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2007/05/mmm-that-sauce-packet.html

Fermentation (hard cider) https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2013/12/kitchen-notes-hard-apple-cider.html

Damn coconut, why won't you open https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2014/10/kitchen-notes-hacking-coconut.html

A protein cookie https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2014/11/coconut-oatmeal-raisin-cookies.html

Faux Cheddar https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2015/01/faux-cheddar-cheese-aka-coconut-cheese.html

Fermentation (ginger beer) https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2015/01/ginger-beer.html

Kimchi Pairings https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2015/09/kitchen-notes-kimchi-pairings.html

Fermentation (alcoholic ginger beer) https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2016/02/ginger-beer-alcoholic-batch.html

Cooking with Bourbon https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2016/08/kitchen-notes-bourbon-abv-and-used-in.html

Mystery Ingredients

Want to learn a new dish? Pick up something random at the grocery store, then prepare a dish.

Moon Fish https://thefoodening.blogspot.com/2010/11/mystery-ingredient-moonfish.html