Monday, November 26, 2007

Leftovers, Again?

It's a slow and rainy Monday with the last of the leftovers from last week. (Think of it as a Feed Me/Drink Me version of a turkey sandwich.)

Look in the Want Ads: Know how to make curry mayonnaise? Then hey, if you're a chef, Barcelona Tapas might be looking for you. Local papers are featuring their ad looking for an executive chef at the Indianapolis location.

Looking Good! Here's a big shout out to Jared Fogle who still looks pretty darn good after all these years. Famous now as Subway's pitch man, Fogle says he's still having a great time. Now thirty years old, he was a student at IU when he lost all the weight walking and eating Subway sandwiches. We ran into him last week at Mo's downtown after a Pacers game. (He's much better looking in person than on TV.) Go, Jared!

"Blows the Top Right Off the Popper": Who knew farmer's market popcorn could make such a difference? Over the weekend, popped some corn I bought from a farmer's market stand. Huge kernals! Huge corn! Lots of big, fluffy white pieces! It made a huge mess but what a treat -- it will be perfect for making caramel corn later in the winter. Don't know who this corn is from as there was no label on the bag, but thanks, whoever you are!

Quiz Answer: Scoville Scale measures hot pepper heat! While at least one chef said he was off to research if there actually was a system for measuring the quality of fish roe, he still knew the Scoville Scale measures how hot a pepper is. For example, a bell pepper has a rating of 0 (no heat) and mild peppers like pimentos have a rating of around 500. A jalapeno is generally rated around 2500-8000. Thai peppers? Around 50,000-100,000. And Scotch Bonnets/habaneros rate around 100,000-350,000. Here's more on how they get the number including a spiffy chart. And of course, 96% of you got it right.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Regarding: The caviar grading scale.

Color is the biggest determining factor as to which grade a caviar gets.

However, caviar is also graded on the quantity of eggs that are intact at the time of packaging. The more intact the eggs, the better quality and freshness. This is actually a no brainer once I started thinking about it. If you have ever had caviar that has been heated too much (it should never be over room temp.) or if you have ever had the misfortune of having caviar that was even slightly past its prime then you know what I mean. It sort of "collapses" on your tongue as opposed to "popping" on your tongue which is obviously a huge deal.

Anonymous said...

Hey braingirl you forgot the grand daddy of the scoville scale! Check out the hottest pepper in the world!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naga_Jolokia_pepper

Its called "ghost" for a reason.

Anonymous said...

I just tried the Riehle's Baby Blue popcorn through Farm Fresh Delivery (you can also get it at the Riehle's website at selectpopcorn.com). It's possibly the best popcorn I've ever eaten! The corn popped up tiny -- the name says it all; popped, I bet the corn was as big as my index fingernail -- and the popcorn was tender and practically hull-less. I wonder if someone with braces could even eat this popcorn. Popcorn and gloomy winter days go hand in hand for me; can't wait to try some of Riehle's other varieties ... and continue to support this Indiana business.