Why So Few Recipes Call for Roasted Macadamias

Research conducted by the Newsbites Test Kitchen has shown that the oil-rich nuts sometimes catch fire.

Roast on the Range

El Asador, a non-stick iron grill with short legs that you set over your range burner (gas or electric), is handy for roasting vegetables indoors, to say nothing of a couple of inconvenient little jobs such as heating tortillas and blistering pepper or eggplant skins. It’s available in 10 3/4-inch and 8 3/4-inch sizes at kitchenware shops and Mexican and Middle Eastern food product stores for $15.95, or you can order direct from Armer Products Co., Modesto, Calif., (209) 523-6332.

Beyond Hot

Crystal Hot Sauce, which accounts for almost a third of all pepper sauce sales in Louisiana, has introduced Crystal Extra Hot Hot Sauce, said to be three times as hot. Tasting notes: opaque red-orange color; smooth, even burn over entire front of palate, no hot spots or pinching; brick-y red pepper nose; good body. At supermarkets.

Below Haagen-Dazs

Haagen-Dazs, which turned the market around by being richer than other ice creams, wasn’t invented by a Mr. Haagen-Dazs but by a second-generation New York ice cream maker named Reuben Mattus. Eventually Mattus sold the company, and when a new owner let him go three years ago, he started working on a new line of ice creams under his own name--but this time lower in fat (Mattus had open-heart surgery in 1980). Due to a mysterious process that does not involve vegetable gum thickeners, Mattus’ Low-Fat Ice Creams taste much richer than you’d think from their 3% fat level (most premium ice cream is 12% to 17% fat). The lack of fat is just discernible in the chocolate, and the vanilla has a faint hint of honey, but the coffee and caramel crunch flavors are as good as regular ice cream. Available in Southern California at Hughes Family Markets and participating 7-Eleven stores.

Baking by the Seasons

Baking With the American Harvest is a new bimonthly cooking newsletter that focuses on simple, seasonal recipes (about 18 an issue). Editor Cindy Mushet apprenticed at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and has worked for the Angeli restaurants in Los Angeles. For a sample copy, send $2.50 to 1341 Ocean Ave., D-526, Santa Monica, Calif. 90401.

Be My Quest

2 Calorie Quest is a flavored water that puts its calorie count (two per 10-ounce bottle) on the label. Other flavored waters, as 2 Calorie Quest eagerly points out, run from 99 to 113 calories in 11 ounces. Available in peach citrus, tangerine lime, raspberry and black cherry flavors at supermarkets.

A Golden-Brown Oldie

One of the fastest-growing food trends in the country is, believe it or not, macaroni and cheese. And that’s under its old name, not as macaroni Alfredo.