JasonTrue

4,037 reputation

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bio	website	blog.jagaimo.com
	location	United States
	age	39
visits	member for	2 years, 7 months
	seen	7 hours ago
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Ceramic collector, obsessive cook, micro-entrepreneur and professional geek.

I currently work for a major daily newspaper working on their internet presence. In previous lives, I've worked for Microsoft, Revenue Science (now Audience Science), Zillow, and a travel company called Virtuoso, and a very strange financial/transportation conglomerate.

My StackOverflow CV

	4,037 reputation	bio	website	blog.jagaimo.com	visits	member for	2 years, 7 months
518 badges		location	United States		seen	7 hours ago

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45 Comments

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May 14	comment	Is it possible to can lemons in a simple syrup as opposed to using salt? Perhaps "lemon conserve" or "lemon marmalade" would be a better starting point for your search for sweet preserved lemons.
May 2	comment	What exactly is “vegetable shortening”? I personally prefer using clarified butter/ghee for nearly all recipes calling for shortening, though the melting point is slightly different and can affect some recipes. I only use shortening as an anti-rust agent on cast iron pans or my cast iron grill.
Apr 24	comment	How can I create the equivalent of a fresh cake yeast from my sourdough culture? @Mien: "Cake yeast" was just referred to as "fresh yeast" in Germany, or sometimes "yeast cubes". Perhaps similarly named in Belgium.
Apr 6	comment	Why does broccoli turn brown when steaming? Consider blanching rather than steaming. You can blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds to about 2 minutes, depending on desired tenderness, then ice water shock it to set the color. The color usually even survives reheating. Steaming always takes longer and almost always results in a pale or undesirable color; blanching allows the color to stay vibrant green.
Apr 4	comment	Flour alternatives for roux Potato flour is commonly used in Germany for roux-like application (brown gravies and light gravies, for example), so I'd start there.
Mar 27	comment	Fish and cheese: An unbreakable rule? There was some evidence I saw years ago that the "no cheese with fish" rule originated among Italian Americans that observed a convention and promoted it as a rule, and the historical accident that led to this was reverse-imported back to Italy in an era of trying to define "correct" Italian cuisine. I forgot where I read this account, but it seemed more convincing than any arguments based on natural flavor affinities.
Mar 13	comment	How to get puff pastry to cook right through When you were placing the puff pastry over the stew filling, was the filling cold or hot?
Feb 2	comment	How to eliminate rubbery texture in pan fried veggie burgers made with vital wheat gluten To me this chewy texture is characteristic of wheat gluten, even when fairly thoroughly cooked. It's leveraged on purpose for a number of dishes, and really only freeze-dried gluten products (common for clear soups in Japan) seem to escape that. Are you really committed to using the gluten for some particular reason?
Jan 25	comment	How do I get my spring rolls crispy? And stay hot, which can be a problem if you add too much food at once.
Jan 19	comment	Grinding melted latex off a pizza stone? Does your oven have a self-cleaning mode? That's how I've gotten unwanted gunk off of mine...
Jan 17	comment	What is Zwieback toast and where can I find it? I also used Zwieback in Germany when I was baking cheesecakes, in place of graham crackers. While not identical, it was close enough for many applications; the reverse should also hold.
Jan 7	comment	What is considered to be an ideal roasting time and temperature for Cauliflower? I beg to differ, in spite of the current fashion of claiming cooked oil completely loses its flavor. There are clear aroma differences between olive oil and, say, canola oil or peanut oil, even after cooking. I've used both, even for roasted cauliflower. I can say I won't go back to canola or peanut oil for roasted cauliflower unless I'm using additional seasonings. Plus, I typically add a small splash of first cold press olive oil to the cauliflower just before serving.
Jan 1	comment	What is a 'dough spatula'? There's not much remarkable about any of the "dough spatulas" I saw online that would enable you to do something you couldn't do with either a bench knife (also called a bench scraper since it typically is useful for cleaning up your work area) and a spatula or wooden spoon. I wouldn't worry about it.
Dec 11	comment	Are commercial electric ovens good for home use? I think it's an interesting question, just not a great fit for this particular site. derobert's rephrasing may be fine; the "brands" question would also need to be removed.
Dec 11	comment	Are commercial electric ovens good for home use? The answer to this is going to depend on your local building codes, although there are often ways of making it work in many jurisdictions. Unfortunately, I don't think that legal advice is on topic here, and the question requires a very localized answer that won't be generally applicable.
Oct 25	comment	Why is garam masala in many curry paste/powder recipes? I have three "garam masala" blends that I use regularly, and I may choose different ones for different purposes when I have at least two of them on hand, but in a pinch, I'll just use the one I have and make slight tweaks if I think the dish needs it.
Oct 25	comment	Why is garam masala in many curry paste/powder recipes? I am one of the people that emphasizes ratios and specific instructions, but only to the extent that they matter. There are big picture ratios, like you'd find in Ruhlman's book Ratio, and simpler ratios that matter, like the ones that distinguish a thick sauce from a thin sauce, or a sweet sauce from a savory sauce, etc. But a number of items have differences which are either inconsequential or a matter of personal taste, and I'd argue that the specific makeup of a garam masala ratio is one of them.
Oct 9	comment	Did 150 °C (300 °F) ruin my cream sauce, or is it just overcooked, or fine? Was your milk skim milk or 1%? I've had similar issues with skim and super low fat milk in baked bechamel sauces even with added cream and a proper roux. This rarely bites me with whole milk.
Oct 3	comment	Is Consumer Reports really correct about 6 parts water to 1 part rice? Except that's converted rice, so still works differently. (Though I would say that the taste leaves a lot to desired, I suppose it's for an unrelated reason).
Oct 3	comment	Is Consumer Reports really correct about 6 parts water to 1 part rice? I've only seen British people do this boil and drain method, and I can say the taste was not what I would hope for or expect in rice. I prefer the boil-to-steaming method that you use.