I've made different cheese sauces before using real cheese. The problem with them is that as soon as I add that liquid, it seems to dilute the cheese flavor, even when you use milk or cream. I like beer or white wine cheese sauce, but it's not for nachos or queso dip IMO.

That said, I didn't know about sodium citrate. Is it available in grocery stores...in other words any way I can try it without committing to "a tub of it from Amazon"?

You might be able to find it at the grocery store. Another name for it is "sour salt". The " " I got was $15 and is about a pound. It's not gigantic. And the advantage is that sodium citrate only requires a little bit of liquid so you really just get melty cheese. You want the kind that is granular and looks like salt/sugar, not the liquid type. It's also good for fixing a sauce that's cracked.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nacho...rate_n_6108794
https://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/melty-queso-dip/

Costco used to sell some good Aussie pies in their frozen section. They stopped carrying them quite a few years ago.

I�ve gotten some really nice meat pies in Australia, South Africa and Indonesia. I just had a couple nice ones today from Pie World in BDO.

oops the cheeseburger had a slice of BEET - not a slice of beef. Apologies.
I�ve also had poutine, pizza, Mexican food, rice bowls, sushi, and other non-sausage sandwiches at the Sf baseball stadium. Mega yum.

ive only been to the stadiums in New York, Chicago, and sf/Oakland - total 6!

Dinner tonight will be a traditional roast beef, mashed potatoes with gravy, and a Caesar salad. Haven't decided on the wine yet.

ramona singer Pinot Grigio

I finally butchered my top sirloin to create and cook Picahna, but they sure didn't stay on the skewers like at a rodizio. I used the kettle but should've used the gas grill. Had to trim down the fat cap as I knew my folks would just eat that for dinner.

I wouldn't pair a pinot grigio with roast beef.

ROFL!!
btw---she hasn't said pinot grigio once this season. And those women are getting so drunk every episode...falling down drunk.

What do you mean they wouldn't stay on the skewers? Those look like wood---maybe metal would be better?

They would not stay curled like these.


I butchered a top sirloin cap about 7#. I only cooked about 35% of what was left after trimming. I have most of the trimmings and some fat to my brother's dog before the came to pick him up.

Each one was on three bamboo skewers. Shape didn't hold.

Got it. Only 35%? trimmings for chili maybe?
Looks beautiful--I can't imagine why it didn't hold but I bet it was delicious.

I had low expectations, but it was really tender and went over well. I bought it vacuum sealed on a whim for $20 and it was taking too much room in the deep freezer so I put it in the "soda mini fridge" on the enclosed patio for the last month and knew it needed to be cut and grilled.


I have ribs to smoke tomorrow. Sadly, I was an hour late to $6.99/rack sale on baby backs and was only able to get $8.99/rack full ribs so I'll trim to St Louis cut in the morning.

Costco is my go to for baby backs.
How did you season the meat? How many people are you feeding?

I have a Costco membership still. but it is more out of the way than my outlet stores and both the local BJ's and Sams. I'll roll past Costco if I feel the need for Top Tier gasoline most often. I drive past BJ's more than the other warehouse stores by far.

I now just use a "basic" 54321 or 4321 rub with sugar as the 5/4 with a split of dark brown and raw sugars. Whatever my sugar level is, the salt level is 50% of that.

I've basically retired at 47 to take care of my parents, but while there are three in the house, I generally cook dinner for those two as I eat grilled poultry on salad greens with avocado Monday-Thursday. If no pandemic, I;d likely have two more adults and two carb-heavy kids over more often. Then again, during breakfast, those four will eat a loaf of bread. I could say more but that is more of an OMNI "Parent's Corner/Talk About Your Siblings and Family" thread.

During the start of the shutdown, Restaurant Depot was open to the public. Did anybody here go? I am not sure if they still are and I really don't have spae now, but it ight be worth a cal lfor some

Grilled pizza with fresh made pesto, bacon, shaved pecorino romano, goat cheese.
Weber gas got up to 600 degrees
Pineapple/basil margarita as a sous-chef


ETA: tripped on the doormat bringing the pizza back in the house...almost lost it.