HomebrewMeister's Profile

Whether it's for a kid or any other beginner, I'd have to recommend The Joy of Cooking. It's fantastic, and you can always find the right ingredients.

Emma... I just formed a loaf of bread exactly as you showed it in your video on no-knead bread... Just like I do about once a week ever since that video was posted. Thanks.

I have the OXO food mill that is linked here. It creates perfectly smooth mashed potatoes. They have a rich texture but are never gluey because the potatoes are not over-worked. It's a bit tough to clean up, but it's an obvious case where putting a little more work in yields superior results.

Braised short ribs are delicious. I recommend buying them at the Asian store where they are plentiful and inexpensive.

I highly recommend unEarthly Imperial IPA from Southern Tier. It can only be described as the nectar of the Gods. Other examples of dry-hopped beers would be Bell's Hopslam and an unique dry-hopped beer is Flying Dog's Raging Bitch.

Many of your Imperial IPAs are dry-hopped. Another way to get hop flavor into the beer is to use a hop back, a technique not easily replicated for home brewers.

Dry hopping gives off the citrusy, lemony or piney flavors of the hops, not the bitterness that you get from hops added for the length of the wort boil. Dry hopping makes beer delicious. I'm a total hop-head.

A surprisingly agreeable article from the Times.

If you prefer local, eat local, but don't expect the rest of us to think it's a virtuous thing in and of itself. It's a way to get fresher food that's high quality, not a way to save a planet, which incidentally does not need saving.

It's best to find a style you like and try whatever craft brewers are available in your area. I like Avery Brewing out of Colorado, Stone from California, Rogue from Oregon, Troegs from PA and many others.

Pliny the Elder, as the above people stated, is an amazing beer if you can find it.

I can't recommend Avery Maharaja enough. It's superb.

It's never been a better time to be a beer drinker in America.

Bottle conditioned beer is still a living product. It doesn't go through the process that filters out and kills the yeast like most mass-produced beers do.

The nice thing about bottle-conditioned beers is that if you are a homebrewer and are careful with sanitation, you can start a yeast culture from bottle-conditioned commercial beer. It's neither easy nor foolproof, but it can be done.

Victory Golden Monkey is fantastic.

Chimay White is absolutely heaven in a glass.

St. Bernadus and Karmeliet Tripel are two Belgian tripels that I would highly recommend.

Most of us just use a hand. That's tacky.