Vacuum

My career in food service

As published in the Association for Computing Machinery's Risks Digest, v4 n30, 1986:

 Fast-Food Computing

<Edward_Vielmetti@um.cc.umich.edu>

Tue, 16 Dec 86 16:15:04 EST

I must have been in the cycle early for McDonald's 
fast-food intelligent man-machine systems, according to 
Guthery's law:
   >     In an evolving man-machine system, the man will get
   >     dumber faster than the machine gets smarter.

McDonald's fast food computers (i.e., cash registers) 
collect all sorts of data on the individual employee at 
the counter and on all counter sales as a whole.  They also 
do not have a <no sale> key that opens up the cash
register, probably to prevent theft.  That made it real hard to fix a
mistake without calling a manager to get a key to open the drawer.

Solution?  Well, the people I worked with at McD's had been 
around thesystem long enough to figure out how to get around 
it.  Without getting into too many details of why things were 
as they were, the easiest way to open the drawer without a 
manager was to ring up a sale that gave away a 
tub of barbecue sauce for McNuggets and nothing else.  
   (Hit <promo> <barbecue> <promo> <total> .)
Of course, that messed up the daily statistics some.

Edward Vielmetti, Ex-McDonalds employee, Computing Center 
Microgroup, U. Mich.

 

delicious ketchup

As an exercise for wanting to keep enough bookmarks in delicious, or more likely its crowd of descendants, I provide to you some delicious ketchup.

The problem with a general Google search for ketchup is that there is so much ketchup out there - so many recipes, so many products, so much Heinz everywhere.

The delicious search for ketchup for me was a directed search; I knew that one of those interesting magazines that comes from New York City had a story about ketchup once, and how it was the perfect food.

What I was really after, and what I found readily (since 34 people have bookmarked it on pinboard) was Malcolm Gladwell's 2004 The Ketchup Conundrum. After finding that, I readily found Meg Favreau's Playing Ketchup and Johan Lehrer's Ketchup from The Frontal Cortex.

As for recipes (other than "buy a bottle of Heinz"), try

• Jamie Oliver's homemade ketchup
• (your suggestion goes here)

One of my search strategies in finding things that I had previously known about is to search for them with my name attached, e.g. a search for "vielmetti ketchup". This is less about ego and more about retrieval; you can do the same with your favorite prolific blogger or news source ("kottke ketchup" generates an equally interesting set).

I wonder if you've been getting enough ketchup.

(Prairie Home Companion "ketchup" skit went here, but it loaded soooo slowly.)

Local, seasonal recipe guide

It's harvest time, which means there are a lot of recipes you can do with food that you can buy locally. One thing that would help that a lot is finding the people who buy the same stuff you do, and who share the same tastes, and who can work with you to figure out how to stock up so you have enough on your shelves always to get a meal on the table.

The approach that seems best is to come up with a harvest calendar for each kind of produce that you enjoy, and then to use it as a set of filters into which you set in a bunch of recipes.

The end result could be as simple as tuning in to the local markets, figuring out what is exceptionally good quality or good value at the moment, and then getting back a list of recipes that takes advantage of that. For the handful of things that only show up once a year for a short season (quince, paw paws) you want to anticipate that with recipes so that when they do show you are ready to go.

Black Bean Tortilla Casserole Recipe

This is the easiest possible black bean tortilla casserole that I could come up with. It is suitable for preparing ahead of time and putting in the oven with a timer. Adjust seasonings to taste.

via www.grouprecipes.com

I signed up for GroupRecipes a million years ago, in Internet time; it's still around. The tag line is "recipe discovery" and it has some really interesting ways of assembling a set of recipes that might be what you want to make so that you can go off on your own to make your own.

In a casserole pan, put a layer of corn tortillas on the bottom. Drain and rinse a can of black beans. Pour the black beans over the tortillas. Pour canned diced tomatoes over the beans. Cover with a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese. Mix the beans, tomatoes, and cheese in the pan. Cover with another layer of corn tortillas and top with salsa. Bake, uncovered, until done, about 30 to 45 minutes.

 

a2b3 non-summary for Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010

Attendance: 19. I had the udon noodles, which are new on the menu at Eastern Accents and quite good.

My list of things to note from the day includes, but is not limited to:

• Google's proposed fiber to the home project, and how to get it to Ann Arbor
• Susan Crawford is back in Ann Arbor from a stint in DC and teaching cyber law
• I'm not sure that I wouldn't rather have a Droid phone than a Blackberry
• There is a super-nifty Droid app which is an exercise tracker w/maps
• Searching for low RPM motors that run on 2 AA batteries
• Next Tues.at Dow Aud. at UMHS a meeting on FDA regs for social media and medicine
• Census is hiring and training workers, $14-18/hr
• a2geeks
• Ignite 3 is coming up
• Earth Day is Garlic Mustard Day; I need your recipes
• next Tuesday is Paczki Day, I need your jelly donuts
• Ann Arbor Government Documents Repository continues to collect local govdocs
• Gelman Sciences has released some new docs on their pollution plume & cleanup
• Google Buzz is out
• the DDA is doing a survey on parking
• the hot pepper flakes are called "Ichimi Togarashi"

This list deserves hyperlinks; when I get them I'll go back and edit them in.

Thanks to everyone who came, see you next time.

Cauliflower Curry

Cauliflower Curry

1 Tbs canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 8 oz packages savory baked tofu
curry powder
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets, steamed
coconut milk, about half a can
diced tomatoes, one small can

Heat the canola oil over medium heat (6/10).  Add chopped onion.
Cook until fragrant.  Add curry powder - I generally sprinkle it
lightly over the top - and stir until even more fragrant and colorful.
Add diced tofu, stir so that the curry powder is equally mixed in.

Don't cook so hot that the onions brown, but get everything hot
enough that if you stopped you could eat the mixture right there.

Add steamed cauliflower, stir until everything is coated with the curried
onion.  Adjust the seasonings so that the color is right.

Add the coconut milk and diced tomatoes.  If you are using canned
tomatoes, consider reserving some of the liquid so that the curry
is not too soupy.  Stir, bring to heat at 6/10, then reduce the heat
to 3/10 and cook until the color is right.  (At the start, you will
have a pinkish tone because the tomatoes are raw; you are aiming for
a more curry color, which will happen when the tomatoes are cooked
through).

With the right amount of liquid, this can be served over rice or with
rice on the side to sop it up.

Serves as many people as you make it for; I allow 4 oz of tofu per
family member.

Notes

It could probably have peas added to it.

Freeze the other half a can of coconut milk for the next time you
do this recipe.

Even better the next day if there's any left.

We like the Panda brand savory baked tofu from Michigan Soy Products in Royal Oak, MI, available in Ann Arbor at the People's Food Coop.

Popcorn recipe, oil ripples, and Bénard-Marangoni convection

Popcorn

canola oil
popping corn

Heat a sturdy deep pot with a lid to the same temperature you'd use for low temperature sauteing; on our stove it's 6 of 10.  When the pot is properly warmed up, pour a bit of oil on the bottom (about a tablespoon or a little more) and bring that up to heat.  I know it's at the right temperature when the thin layer of oil starts to form standing waves, ridges, or ripples.  If it starts to smoke, it's too hot; if it's a completely flat layer of oil, it's too cold.

What is that ripple effect?  From Harold McGee, The Curious Cook in the New York Times:

As the temperature of the pan surface rose above 350 degrees, the oil began to move and form thick ridges and thin troughs, a stage that some recipes refer to as the oil “rippling.” As the temperature kept climbing, the thin areas spread out and the ridges became fewer and higher. The pattern reminded me of the long drops that run down the inside of a glass of wine or spirits. Eventually the thin areas seemed to run completely dry, and most of the oil had collected in a ring around the pan edge.

With some research, I soon learned that I had been observing Bénard-Marangoni convection, which is related to Marangoni convection in a wineglass. Uneven temperatures at the pan surface cause regional differences in the oil’s surface tension, and this causes the oil to get pulled toward the cooler areas.

When the oil is at the right heat, pour in enough popping corn in the pan to make a layer of kernels a single kernel deep.   Shake the pot around so that all of the kernels get a very thin coating of hot oil.  If there's any excess oil pooling around, you've put
too much in.

Put the pot back on the heat - again, it's 6/10 on our stove - and keep the lid in while it pops.  Shake the pan back and forth every so often.  When the popping stops, take the pan off the heat.

Cinnamon Popcorn Cereal

a recipe from Jonathan

Fresh popped popcorn
Cinnamon
Milk

Pour fresh popped popcorn in a bowl.  Sprinkle cinnamon on top. Pour milk in the bowl.  Eat.

Note: do not salt the popcorn if you want to enjoy this cereal.
Note: This should work with crumbled rice cakes as well.

Molly's October coconut squash soup

Recipe adapted from directions and shopping hints from Molly at Farmer's Market.

Molly's October squash soup

Ingredients:

onion

garlic

ginger

winter squash, peeled and diced (I used butternut and delicata)

Saute onion, garlic, and ginger in olive or coconut oil.  Add the squash, cook until everything smells nice and the squash is a little bit browned.   Deglaze the pan with a little wine (I used rice wine), then add

diced tomatoes (canned or fresh, I used canned because tomatoes were $4/box)

coconut milk (I used about 1/2 can)

hot stock (I used vegetable stock, you could use chicken stock)

Bring to a boil then simmer covered for a long time until everything is well cooked and soft.  Next time I'll blend the soup so that it's a puree, but we ate it tonight without doing that, and it was still delicious - much, much better than last year's bland pumpkin soup attempt.  I'm sure it was the coconut!

Stuffed peppers with leftover grains recipe

The basic idea is from Martha Rose "Fast Vegetarian Feasts" 1986, p. 103.  It's very simple, as befits her normal cooking.  Cut the tops from peppers, clean them out, fill with a mix of leftover rice and beans and top with cheese.  Bake 30 to 40 minutes, as long as it takes for things to get as soft as you want.

I'm guessing I'll end up using black beans; there's rice from yesterday.  We have an abundance of tomatoes from market, since it's the season when you order a half a peck they are SO HAPPY that someone wants their roma tomatoes in quantity that you end up with an extra pint of cherry tomatoes just to taste.  The 4 y/o will want the beans plain.

Cook all the peppers in the fridge, there will be more on Saturday. The freeze watch line is as far south as Gaylord, so we should be good for a few more weeks.

Karnabeet recipe

Assembled from a few sources; not tried yet; this is approximate.

• Blanch cauliflower and saute in olive oil until browned.
• Make a lemon-tahini-garlic sauce.
• Mix.  Cook.  
• Serve sprinkled with sumac and parsley.

Some alternatives:

• Vegetarian Times roasts the cauliflower instead of sauteing
• Drum Like A Vegan adds rosemary, also roasts instead of sautes
• Gastronomical Three reviews the late, lamented La Zamaan which added pomegranate seeds
• Kitchen Chick looks at Zamaan Cafe (2011) with a photo of Ali Hijazi's karnabeet

For Monday.