Hey plllog ! After over 7 years we still use the fryer ! DH mostly makes homemade chips in it but on occasion when we have company we plan a lot of different dishes that require deep fat frying and then we toss the oil and clean the unit.

I am so glad you gave a follow up report. I guess I do that when I post a KAW...everything in my kitchen still works perfectly after all these years and I never have any regrets. I have never had a caterer in it though so perhaps there are flaws I am not aware of :)

Thanks for posting ! You should include some current pics too and a KAW > c

What kind of chips does he make? Potato? Anything else?

We don't eat a lot of fried foods until the Great Frying Holiday comes around. For small batches, I usually use my cast iron wok. I feel like I have more control and it contains the spatter. The caterers do the dirty work on the Great Frying Holiday. :) I do most of my own catering, but when the mob gets too big and I don't have enough time, they're a godsend. I've been wanting to learn to do my own frying, but it's a la minute, and hard to do for the masses. I'm trying out more oven fry recipes.

In the counter clutter topic, I fessed up to things my current status. I don't have good access to post a batch of new ones just now. There's a worn space on the fridge panel where hands have rubbed away the finish (we call that patina--we like the word "patina"). There are a couple of chips and flakes in the sunflower seed husk board table. Otherwise, it looks pretty much like always. My finished pictures came after it had been lived in awhile.

Here's my first try at my mother's country apple pie with a nouvelle Cuisinart crust. The apples aren't precooked, so have a lot of tooth, and are more apples and much less goo than other pies. Not a beauty, but tasted great:

This is the irreproducible Best Pizza Ever. It was a boughten, white dough from before I found a base recipe for whole wheat which I liked enough to start altering to suit. It was really good, but it's a good thing I'm making my own dough, now, because that one isn't even available anymore. It was kind of perfect, though. What made the pizza so good, however, more than the really good dough, was the topping. There's tomato sauce and torn basil leaves under the cheese. On top was a roasted tomato and arugula salad I threw together that was too strongly flavored to eat much of. I've tried to reproduce it because it was that good on the pizza, but so far no luck.

This view is of it cooking on the Gaggenau pizza stone used with the dedicated heating element that go with the oven. There are a lot more stains on the stone now that I've been on a pizza making quest. With all the doughs and methods I've experimented with, I've always gotten a great crust using the stone. So much so, that much fancier breads are seeming rather ho hum:

More pictures of Your fabulous counters, please!

It's so fun to hear from *old* posters! I forgot about your cool counters-I'm with Holly re more pics.

Time does indeed fly-it's been almost 4 years for us, too.

And, man-you guys keep posting these great photos of pizzas when I'm soooo hungry but way too tired to do anything but reheat leftovers . . .

I have posted on The Fresh Loaf and on the Cooking Forum about the pizza steel that I am now using. Perfection for pizza everytime. I have been using the Sullivan Bread recipe for the crust and am switching to my sourdough crust next week since I have the peel/steel transfer down pat. Your pizza looks great ! What crust are you making ?

DH makes corn chips...cuts corn tortillas into wedges and fries. They are incredible. Don't do potato chips...probably should but the soaking thing to get rid of starch and precooking etc makes it not worth the trouble.

I forgot about your Frying Holiday LOL ! I would get help too. c

Great seeing you both again, too! You've seen the counters (thanks for the compliments). They too haven't changed. :)

Leela, I'm so sorry about the hunger! But once you really get into pizza it turns into a great vehicle for leftovers! Keep dough balls in individual bags in your fridge and freezer. Turn on the oven to heat up your stone or steel. Take out your dough and let it come up to cool from cold. I put it on top of a sprinkling of yellow cornmeal, on a silpat, and also put cornmeal on the peel. Next grab some leftovers that look tasty and get out the right utensils (maybe you need a spoon, maybe a knife).

Stretch your dough to a pizza shape, and let it rest while you portion and or cut your leftovers. Brush with sauce. Add thin things like herbs or thin slices of veg or meat. Sprinkle with cheese (optional) then add your toppings. Don't lay them on too thick. They shouldn't be taller or denser than the dough.

By now your oven is ready. Transfer the pizza and cook for 8-12 minutes. Let it go as dark as you can before you think it looks like it'll burn. Let it get all bubbly and nice. Remove. Cut. Plate.

It's less work than making a salad, though does use a lot of electricity or other fuel and will heat the kitchen (some people have great luck making pizza on the grill in the Summer).

I've recently made:

Barbecue chicken pizza: Tear up a chicken breast and combine with barbecue sauce. Tear up a slice or two of smoked gouda from the deli drawer. Cut up a few tiny tomatoes and a baby bell pepper. Brush pizza dough with extra spicy barbecue sauce. Add toppings and, if you have it, corn and pepper salad. YUM!

Huevos Rancheros pizza: Veg refried beans thinly spread instead of sauce--I don't recommend this. It tasted great but overpowered the eggs. Spread salsa picante. Add baby pepper rings. Fry up a couple/three eggs sunny side, well seasoned, but not fully cooked on top. Make sure your pan is smaller around than the pizza. Cook pizza halfway then slide on the eggs. When it's nearly done, add more salsa and cook for another minute. Add diced avocado. Serve.

Veg: Tomato sauce, basil leaves, roasted eggplant spears, cut in chunks so they're easy to bite through, leftover cauliflower, tomato slices, grated Italian cheeses, and handfuls of baby kale. The kale goes crispy but doesn't burn. Very yummy.

If I want to make a pizza, I just look at what needs using and that's what it is. :)

Thanks, C.! It really was the best ever. That was a white pizza dough from Whole Foods. I had been trying all the doughs around to learn what I wanted from a recipe. I'm working on a whole wheat recipe, but it's not perfected yet. Next batch, Grainlady has guilted me into grinding the wheat. :) I'll try to remember to take pictures. :)

Cool about the corn chips! I've pan fried them, but I can just see them floating around in your fryer getting all crispy good. :)