Market Monday: webstaurantstore.com

I’ve been shopping at Webstaurant Store restaurant supply for a few years now. They have great prices on nearly everything, a huge selection, great customer service, and a great review program. I’ve ordered 65 items in 4 orders and generated nearly $170 in credit by writing review on the items I purchased.

If you are looking for some kitchen supplies, bulk food items, or equipment, be sure to head over to Webstaurant Store and look around.

Refrigerator Pickles

What’s better than a pickle? A homemade pickle!

This recipe is quick, easy, and tasty. I think it took my 30 minutes start to finish. That includes washing the dishes. Quick!
Ingredients:
  • 1 lbs cucumbers
  • 1.5 cups white vinegar
  • 2/3 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon table salt (3/4 tsp Kosher)
  • 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon tumeric
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • Dash of red pepper flakes
  • Onions – optional
Directions:
  • Slice the cucumbers how you like them. I slice them about 1/4″ thick with the crinkle blade in my mandoline. They come out uniform and it is easier than using a knife. Put the cut cucumbers in a bowl big enough to hold the brine also as it will get added soon. If you add the onion, slice it up into rings/slivers and mix with the cucumbers.
  • To make the brine, mix everything but the cucumbers (and onion) together in a pot.
  • Bring to a boil while stirring so the sugar dissolves and does’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Boil for about a minute.
  • Pour the brine over the cucumbers and stir well to make sure everything is submerged.
  • Let cool and refridgerate.
  • Eat pickles!

Slicing Cucumbers 1 Slicing Cucumbers 2  Sliced Cucumbers Pickle Brine Pickles

Notes:

The taste will greatly improve over the next three to four days as they pickle. I have stored them in the refridgerator for several months with no issues.

When I’m in the fridge and think of it, I give the bowl a shake to make sure the pickles stay covered up and to mix up the brine.
My bag of cucumbers was two pounds so I doubled everything to make sure they would all get covered by the liquid.
The brine will stain because of the tumeric. I have a green spoon and a shirt with spots on it. Be careful.

Easy Bacon Cooking! Part 2

A long time a go I posted about cooking bacon in the microwave. It involved a lot of paper towels, a bit of a mess, and a few minutes of time. Well, times have changed. I now cook my bacon in the oven. It takes longer (about 35 minutes) but there is not nearly the mess, it tastes better, and more can be cooked at once.

I set the oven for 350° F, place a cooling rack in a baking sheet pan, fill it with bacon, slide it in, and wait. It takes about 35 minutes to get the bacon to perfect crispiness. The meat is perfectly cooked and the fat melts. Your times may need adjusted depending on your oven.

I can fit 10 slices on my half sheet pans quite easily. I cook a bunch and stick it in a bag in the fridge for when I want bacon without the hassle. Another benefit is the grease gets collected in the pan to be saved for other uses. When cooled a bit, I pour it off into a jar to be saved in the fridge for later use.

Give it a try next time you need to cook bacon or you need to cook a lot of bacon at once.

Easy bacon cooking!

I was recently turned on to a quick and easy method to cook bacon. Turns out the microwave does a pretty decent job. It is as simple as putting a papertowel on a microwave safe plate, placing the bacon on the papertowel one strip at a time, and cooking. The timing is one minute per piece of bacon on the plate. This will get it mostly there, then it is just a matter of cooking it longer to get it to a crispy goodness state. So, roughly seven minutes and I had some perfectly crisp bacon with no pan and no long wait.

Give it a try and see how it works for you.