Fifth Avenue Forum

Grats @tifosi77

I do what I do.

Made homemade pizza on the grill tonight...was amazing.

I can still see cheese through the pepperoni, my man.

I made aquafaba (garbanzo bean juice) merengue drops over the weekend... I'll tell ya what, if I were vegan, I'd be all over aquafaba as an egg white substitute. They were really really good and I couldn't really tell much difference between the finished product and a normal merengue.

They went onto some lemon curd, crushed graham crackers and macerated strawberries. It was a really nice dessert...

Last fall I signed up to back the Männkitchen Pepper Cannon on Indiegogo* and was in line for the second production run. I just got in my Pepper Cannon today, and this thing is awesome. I've had an Atlas pepper mill for years that I bought because the crank handle would make it easier to grind large quantities of pepper for big-batch recipes (http://www.peppermillimports.com/atlas-mills). The Atlas is a nice mill, although the downside is that it's not very adjustable when it comes to the grind size. But I still liked it because the crank handle made it easier than a regular "twist" pepper mill to crank out pepper by the teaspoon or tablespoon, even though it still takes about a minute of vigorous cranking to generate, say, a tablespoon of fresh ground pepper. I loaded up the new Pepper Cannon, and it blasted out more pepper in 10 twists (less than 10 seconds) than my Atlas could produce in more than 30 seconds of cranking the handle, and its highly adjustable as to grind size. This thing looks to be built like a tank and absolutely fulfills its "Pepper Cannon" name. Yeah, it's expensive at well over $100, but I already think it was worth it.

* https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pepp ... per-lovers

Man, that thing looks nice. Tempted to pull the trigger but I'll hold off.

I *love* (red) meat, but I got to the point in life (50+ with 2 small children) that I would be quite happy to transition to the healthy meat substitutes if it makes me healthier in the long run.

I have tried several things, most recently, Beyond Meat burgers from Sam's Club: https://www.samsclub.com/p/beyond-meat- ... _product_1 , because Mark Rober said it was really good:



BUT no matter how much I try , the meat substitutes clearly don't taste like meat to me. Any tips/tricks in terms of preparations, products to try, etc. that anyone can share?

Put bacon on it?

There is nothing you can do to improve Beyond Meat, short of opening the package and immediately throwing it into the garbage.

Inspired by this discussion, I bought and cooked an Impossible Burger. I cheated a little and used a teaspoon or so of saved bacon fat to lube the griddle. Served with provolone, pickles, mayochup, and some angel-hair cabbage (which I prefer to lettuce) on a bun that I heated on the griddle with the bacon fat. As good as a beef burger? No, but far from terrible, either. I'm game to try again.

I actually like bean burgers. Especially when they don’t try to sell themselves as meat. Just let beans be beans. Kenji has a good black bean recipe over on serious eats.

bought a blackstone griddle with store credit i had. here goes nothing

I *love* (red) meat, but I got to the point in life (50+ with 2 small children) that I would be quite happy to transition to the healthy meat substitutes if it makes me healthier in the long run.

I have tried several things, most recently, Beyond Meat burgers from Sam's Club: https://www.samsclub.com/p/beyond-meat- ... _product_1 , because Mark Rober said it was really good:

BUT no matter how much I try , the meat substitutes clearly don't taste like meat to me. Any tips/tricks in terms of preparations, products to try, etc. that anyone can share?

Beyond isn't nearly as good as Impossible, so I'd advise you look for the latter. When we go to a place that offers Impossible burgs, I've committed myself to ordering that instead of meat. I've even cooked them at home. You're not going to confuse it with red meat, but it is the most satisfying plant-based substitute I've had.

bought a blackstone griddle with store credit i had. here goes nothing

I like mine. Hibachi is my favorite meal. Fajitas are second and smash burgers are nice too. It works well when camping but is definitely not a grill substitute IMO.

bought a blackstone griddle with store credit i had. here goes nothing

I like mine. Hibachi is my favorite meal. Fajitas are second and smash burgers are nice too. It works well when camping but is definitely not a grill substitute IMO.

I use mine for pretty much everything except for burgers. It's great for breakfast. Just this week I've made cheesesteaks, crab sandwiches, and tuna steaks. I also grilled some asparagus that turned out perfect.

I would like to know more about this crab sando situation. I bought some lump crab meat this week with the plan of making crab cakes this weekend. But I forgot we are going to Santa Barbara next weekend and have a dinner reservation at a restaurant that has the best crab cakes in the entire world (fight me), so I kinda don't want to put myself up for comparison. lol I'm the market for alternatives.

bought a blackstone griddle with store credit i had. here goes nothing

I like mine. Hibachi is my favorite meal. Fajitas are second and smash burgers are nice too. It works well when camping but is definitely not a grill substitute IMO.

I use mine for pretty much everything except for burgers. It's great for breakfast. Just this week I've made cheesesteaks, crab sandwiches, and tuna steaks. I also grilled some asparagus that turned out perfect.

Yeah, we camped last week and I made sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs and French toast for 6 people in like 15 minutes with zero prep and minimal cleanup. Great for that.

I would like to know more about this crab sando situation. I bought some lump crab meat this week with the plan of making crab cakes this weekend. But I forgot we are going to Santa Barbara next weekend and have a dinner reservation at a restaurant that has the best crab cakes in the entire world (fight me), so I kinda don't want to put myself up for comparison. lol I'm the market for alternatives.

It's a very simple sandwich, but they turned out awesome. I found the recipe on the blackstone website.
https://blackstoneproducts.com/blogs/re ... crab-melts

Edit: Because of this recipe I started using Duke's mayo on some other stuff. It's a good butter substitute on breakfast sandwiches.

I *love* (red) meat, but I got to the point in life (50+ with 2 small children) that I would be quite happy to transition to the healthy meat substitutes if it makes me healthier in the long run.

I have tried several things, most recently, Beyond Meat burgers from Sam's Club: https://www.samsclub.com/p/beyond-meat- ... _product_1 , because Mark Rober said it was really good:

BUT no matter how much I try , the meat substitutes clearly don't taste like meat to me. Any tips/tricks in terms of preparations, products to try, etc. that anyone can share?

Beyond isn't nearly as good as Impossible, so I'd advise you look for the latter. When we go to a place that offers Impossible burgs, I've committed myself to ordering that instead of meat. I've even cooked them at home. You're not going to confuse it with red meat, but it is the most satisfying plant-based substitute I've had.

Awesome. Thanks! So I'll try to master the Impossible (I believe Walmart has it). Ever since one of my good friends got colorectal cancer right after turning 50, I take my eating patterns far more seriously...

loving my blackstone griddle so far

Just made cheesesteaks on mine today for lunch.