Allison Robicelli's discussions

I wrote a cookbook/memoir! Don’t know if I’ll ever put myself through that again, emotionally. (Probably will, though)

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Displacement! I use this trick a lot. 

They were not! I only take photos for my original recipes. I’m not a real photographer, and it’s definitely not an easy job. 

Try this one out if you’re in the mood for a challenge!

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Can’t tell without seeing the recipe, but my guess is because it uses a liquid fat like oil or melted butter. Fats coat the flour proteins, preventing them from linking up and forming long gluten strands. 

Just use regular cider instead. This, remarkably, doesn’t get gloppy as it sits.

It’s great with some of this on top:
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That’s probably something psychosomatic, which I completely understand as I get that way sometimes, too. Like, know when you’re on the fence if something is still good but you end up eating it anyway, and then you feel sick all day entirely because you’re so worried about getting sick? The mind is a powerful thing.

The… Read more

Large chunks of fatty meats used to be cooked in those old pots. They’d have developed some seasoning over time.

After hundreds of uses a cast iron skillet will have so many layers of polymerized fat they’ll pretty much be nonstick and may not require soap. Takes a while to get there, but when you finally do it’s such a special feeling.

It literally takes less than a minute to clean. 

I like using that method, too, but there’s no way I can give people that advice without some of them blasting their face off. 110% agree with that TSSSHHHH noise being satisfying! 

You’ve got to try this recipe!

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The longer you own your pans, the better they get. They’re like beloved members of the family.

Nope, iron pots were in use in the Han Dynasty. It’s a damn fun period to read about! Most weeks I can’t even get motivated enough to do my basic 21st century chores, and here these people were nearly 2000 years ago, smelting 24/7 with no complaints.

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Your wife is kinda taking a kosher approach about pans, in that if meat has touched it, it’s traif forever. Here’s the deal: if you’ve seared meat it in, there’s a chance that during the cooking process some of the oil polymerized onto the pan. Could be a microscopic amount, but it still happened. If you wash it with… Read more

I do this, too, and it is a true power move. 

You don’t need to do anything to it! Every time you cook with it you’ll be building up more polymer chains, so the seasoning will get better and better over time. Just keep it clean and the pan will last you a lifetime. 

Not long. I was so ashamed. 

Quick hummus, yes. Good hummus, no. Skinning each and every chickpea by hand is tedious as hell, but man is it worth it.