Rachel Perlow

I think this goes partially in hand with the current over ordering thread. My parents were obsessive non-over orderers. We were a family of five, but they would typically order the dinner for 4 (two from column A, two from column B) when we'd go to dinner on Sunday night at China Sky. Around the time I was a teenager, you could get take out, but no delivery, in my area. But we usually didn't have much left over then either.

I'm not sure.... but can I assume my French won't be good enough to follow the blog? mmm... poutine. ← I'm guessing Minnesota, not France. I don't know anything about Ascot, but it sounds exactly like Derby. The hats and the outfits and all. ← Zilla, you know that scene in My Fair Lady, where's she's all dressed up at a horse race? One of her first forays into society... that was Ascot. Apparently, they still dress that way there today.

Wait, so Alberto, "real" pizza flour is low protein flour? I assumed bread flour (higher protein content) would be more appropriate. Anyone care to discuss the differences or, better yet, do an experiment using two different flours but otherwise similar techniques?

So it is actually in the Intl Food Warehouse then? Is it to the left when you walk in, where that deli area used to be?

Now that I've had the tiles for a while and see that I actually make use of them, and that they pretty much stay in the oven, I'd be willing to buy a large stone to leave in there. However, the only ones I've seen haven't been large enough, let alone the equivalent of $9 (1983 prices), let's say that equals under $30. If I do see one, I'll be sure to get it. For now, the tiles work.

Ignore the carbonizing.

No. Hold on, I'll go take a picture.

Don't tell them you're planning on cooking on them. They'll look at you like you're insane. And, evenntually, they'll get the idea of what we're doing and start charging more for them!

We got the plain unglazed tiles at Home Depot. They're pretty much the cheapest tiles they have. I don't think they're terra cotta and if you call them that, the sales person (if you can find one) will probably steer you to something more decorative. I can't recall if they were actually labeled quarrey tiles or not, I think not. Measure your oven so you know how many square inches you want to cover (so you know how many to buy). Buy extra as some will inevitably break. They're cheap enough that you could buy twice as many as you need, the idea is not to waste time by having to ever go back for more. Oh, and people talk about not cleaning their pizza stones. I hadn't in a while, but they were starting to feel gross. The tiles are much easier to fit into the dishwasher for a run vs. a pizza stone. Quick enough?

Instead of a stone, you can get tiles cheaper, and the peel is totally worth it. They're not expensive, got mine in a restaurant supply store, I think we paid around $20 for a medium-large one. Smaller ones can be had for less. You look at it and go, "where am I going to store that???" But it was easy to drill a hole in the end of the handle to hang it on the wall of the garage, if you have a pantry with some available wall space, you could hang it there, or even in back of a clothes closet (if you clean it off first).

FYI - I have 6" unglazed tiles lining the lower rack in my oven. They're only about 1/4" thick, but definitely work. In this shot of some recently baked pizza, you can see the grid pattern created by the tiles, but you can also see the crusty benefits. Mmm.

I put the dough on the peel before topping it. And I do try to shake it as it is assembled, but somehow, some always sticks, and then some topping ends up on the oven tiles. Oh well. Still tastes good, even if not a perfect circle.

Jeez, they don't even have Hecter's or any bread flour. I guess they figure, people getting their groceries delivered don't make homemade bread.

One more tip, especially for the veg pizzas. Instead of just drizzling the pizza with olive oil, we coat the prepped toppings with olive oil (mixed up in a bowl) before topping the pizza. This helps items like garlic, onion and mushroom cook quicker, since the oil transfers more heat directly to them.

Sorry I didn't get online last night to add to Jason's comments about our pizza. The mozzarella cheese was indeed plain old Polly-O, but it was combined with some good provolone and parmesean (all home grated). This boosts the cheese flavor considerably. I don't really care for fresh mozzarella on pizza, unless it is a totally fresh topped pizza, like a margarita, with fresh tomato slices perhaps. As you can see from our pictures, above, I try not to overload the pizza with cheese, and the sauce is spread very thin. To the novices: you will be tempted to put too much on your pizza -- RESIST THE URGE !!! Salami is a really good pizza topping. I don't know why I've never seen it offered at a pizzaria, but you'd think they would, considering how they have it on hand for subs and it is easy to prep for pizza. Some pieces are chewy and others get crisp, mmm. If you don't have any parma ham on hand, salami is an excellent alternative (but do try parma ham sometime). In recent weeks we made pizza from dough bought at a local pizzaria ($3.50 for a portion enough to make a large pie) and frozen at the supermarket ($1 each, stretched thin, about the size of a medium pie). The first time we cut the dough into quarters and made smaller pizzas. Each one was about the size of two slices, so it was fun to make many with different toppings. Last night we kept the dough intact and made pizzas as large as our peel could handle. It was nice being able to slice actual triangular slices, and there was less end crust to interior crust/topping ratio. I was surprised that the large pizzas took the same amount of time to bake as the smaller ones. The eggplant pizza was first, I had set the timer for 6 mintutes and it was just in time before burning (removed from oven at about 6:35 (minutes:seconds not PM)). The veg combo & salami pizza was removed at about 5:20 and was less charred, but still quite well done. I have not yet perfected my rolling/stretching out and transfer to and from the peel yet, so the large pizzas aren't perfectly round. How much cornmeal should I be using on the peel? We give it a good sprinkling and spread it around with our hands, but after assembling the pizza one part always sticks a bit and a few pieces of topping go flying when trying to put the pizza in the oven. Tips appreciated in all aspects of pizza transfer. Here's a tip for peel storage... I drilled a hole in the end of the handle and hung it off a nail in the garage. Oh, and since the next pizza is ready to go on the peel by the time the first one is done baking, I've just been using tongs to yank it onto a pizza screen when removing from the oven. We allow it to cool for a minute or two before slicing. I'm intrigued by NealH broiler suggestion, perhaps we'll move our tile lined rack up higher and try that next time.

I checked my regular market. They don't even have fresh rhubarb now. Frozen can be had for $2.50 per pound.

Melissa, thanks again for the potato kugel recipe. It was universally loved by everyone. I have a new yearly assignment (in addition the the charoses).

Thanks for the heads up, Rosie. It's near my parents' house so we stopped by over the weekend to give it a look see. The menu looked good, with some interesting dishes, but our initial impression is "fancy americanized Chinese place." I figure we'll try it sometime when going to dinner with the folks and now I know some items to not order.

I usually make a plain matzo brei to serve with a sprinkle of sugar and jam, but Jason requested a savory one this morning. Sauteed onions and mushrooms with schmaltz. Meanwhile, soaked broken matzo in hot water, drain, mix with beaten eggs -- about one egg per matzo. I didn't squeeze the matzo, but just drained it for a few minutes. After the veg has browned, allow it to cool a bit and mix into matzo-egg mixture, add salt & pepper. Switch to non-stick skillet and make pancake like matzo brei with a little more schmaltz in the pan. A sprinkle of salt & pepper and it's ready to eat. Mmm. I tried it with jam, it's good with jam even when savory!

Oh my god, I don't know if we got the same thing that AlwaysCravingThai is talking about, but the chocolate truffle cake we had last night was amazing. It was definitely the big hit of the evening. It basically tasted like a big cake of ganache -- I couldn't detect any nut flour. I should have had a container of hot water and my non serated slicing knife to cut it, but wasn't at my house, it stuck to the blade of the serated knife I was using, but I still managed to give all takers a not too horribly mangled slice. My very picky nephew had two pieces!!! This is not to dismiss the fruit tart, which was also highly praised. In fact, after the huge "festive meal" I preferred that and the orange sponge (brought by another guest) to the rich, fudgy truffle cake (I couldn't finish my small slice, shared it with mom). Anyway, if you need to bring a dessert to impress for the second sedar, try to stop buy and pick one up (or the fruit tart, but that's dairy so be careful bringing that to a sedar).

Pam, I'm with you on the KFP potato chips, they just taste better this time of year. I was showing my mom your blog last night during the calm before the storm , she wants to know your recipe for the KFP blintz wrappers, please. Thanks!

I made the chicken soup to bring to my mom's house for the sedar. I took over the soup making the year after she didn't feel like making it and instead bought the soup!!! (Actually, that was the only year no one needed to add salt to their soup.) Anyway, I make stock using a 10 lb bag of leg quarters and however many chicken/turkey carcasses I have stashed in my freezer - this time it was three, plus a bag of raw trimmings and neck bones. That's about average, since I make a roast chicken or turkey breast every couple of weeks. In addition to the protein portion, some peeled carrots, celery with leaves, onion, garlic, pepper, parsley, and dill went in the pot. My mom used to serve the carrots and celery cooked with the soup. But I always hated that because they'd be all over cooked, mushy, flavorless. So I strain out all the solids in my stock, first through a colander, then strainer, then cheesecloth lined strainer. At this point I'd normally begin reducing (oh yeah, I defat using a gravy separater throughout the stockmaking), but since I want soup, I added some salt and put it into quart containers and chilled in an ice bath. I ended up with 6 quarts, but only need 4 for tomorrow. I had removed a couple of legs one hour into the simmering, cut off the meat an returned the bones to the stock. The meat was diced, along with some turkey breast I also cooked separately for lunches (Jason loves roast turkey breast sandwiches and it can't be "turkey jello" as we call deli turkey). I also diced some fresh carrot and celery and sauteed that in a little schmaltz and deglazed with the (defatted) turkey drippings (that added a wine element, since I put water and white wine in the bottom of the roasting rack when cooking the turkey). Chopped parsley is thrown in at the end. The vegetables, diced meat and stock are all packaged separately, to be combined in the pot at my mom's house, with her matzo balls -- cooked in salted water. Obviously, this isn't a recipe recipe, it contains a lot of elements that depend on previous and congruous cooking. But it works for me!

I think the solution (so that there's no evidence of picking!) if you only have enough for the one pan and don't make a huge overage, is to bake a scoop of it in a little ramiken. That way you can get a taste about halfway into the baking and sooth the aroma induced cravings!

Jason overrulled freezing the small one anyway. The large one just came out of the oven, and the smell is so intoxicating, I had to bake the smaller one so we can get a taste preview!

Absolutely! 5 large peeled potatoes 1 medium-sized onion (or even a large onion if I want a stronger flavor) 1/3 cup matza meal 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper (or even white pepper) 2-3 eggs, beaten 2 Tbsp oil (or schmaltz) (optional: carrot and parsley can be chopped with the onion .. gives it some color) Wash and shred (in a food processor) the potatoes and chop the onion. Mix dry ingredients with eggs, potatoes, and onion. Mix everything together, and pour into a *2 qt oiled baking dish. Dot the top with oil. Bake with 375 degrees for 1 1/2 hours, until top is crusty brown. I work fast after shredding the potatoes lest they turn foul grey ... * now I line the baking dish with Reynolds Release foil for easy removal!! ← Figuring 5 large potatoes was about 3.5 lbs, I used about 2/3 of the bag of potatoes, one large onion, one carrot. It was too much for the 2.5 quart casserole I had planned on baking in, so I figured I used too much potato. So when mixing in the rest of the ingredients, I upped the matzo meal to 1/2 cup and used 4 eggs. Tasting the batter, it needed more salt, so I added another 1/2 tsp. I oiled the pan and dotted the top with schmaltz (shh, don't tell my mother, she freaks out about schmaltz, let alone my fat-phobic sister-in-law ). It's in the oven now. Since it's going to be reheated tomorrow, I'm baking it at 350 for only an hour. Actually, I just covered the top with foil, as I don't want it to overbrown today. As I said, I made too much for the pan I planned to use, so there's an extra loaf pan of the mix in the fridge. I'm using the toaster oven to bake the large one, so there's no room for the small one too. The large one went into the oven with the potatoes nice and white (I grated the potato last and made sure to mix it up with everything else very quickly), I'm interested to see if the potato will remain white sitting in the fridge for while before baking. Alternatively, I was thinking of just freezing the smaller one for later baking -- Do you think I could freeze it raw?