prasantrin

My family has several sugar cane farmers, and they seem to agree with this theory. ← My family also has several sugar cane farmers (or at least people who own the farms), and if rising corn prices is causing an increase in the demand for sugar from sugar cane, they aren't seeing the benefits. This year was one of the worst for sugar prices and demand.

One more thing. . . I tried it again with thicker slices, and I can definitely taste the sweetness. Oh well. It's not overbearingly sweet, but I probably won't be using it in place of pancetta in a bolognese sauce. I got about 15 2-3mm slices from my 1kg side pork, plus some chunks from the bit I cut off to even everything out. I can't imagine this is going to last as long as I thought, so I may just have to make another one sooner than later!

After only 12 hours of sitting uncovered in the fridge drying out, I stuck my bacon in the oven at 6am this morning, at 100C and set my probe thermometer to 65C. It took just 90 minutes, and then I let it sit around to cool till shortly after noon. It's very easy to slice, but I wish I had a longer knife or an electric meat slicer. It would make cutting a whole lot easier! (Think I could use my Benriner to slice it?) I fried a couple of slices. It's definitely crispy like bacon, but it's rather flavourless. The sugars definitely got absorbed somewhere, because the bacon burned relatively quickly, but I couldn't taste the sugar anywhere. Or the salt, for that matter. I can and will definitely use this up, but I look forward to trying again. I'm sure I can do better in terms of flavour! My next attempt probably won't be until fall, though. It'll take me a long time to use this up!

You can also use them in recipes that call for lentils, though you usually have to cook them longer.

Thanks! Do I really need to butter parchment paper? I've never buttered it in the past, because I always thought it was supposed to just peel off. So far I've not had a problem, but there's always a first time, which is usually also the time you want it to look perfect!

I'm planning on making Brrrrrr-ownies tomorrow, and noticed a lot of Dorie Greenspan's brownie recipes (at least the ones I have saved on my computer--my book is back in Canada) call for lining pans with foil and then buttering the foil. Why? Why use foil, and why butter the foil? Is there any particular reason one would line with foil rather than parchment paper? I usually use parchment, but I'm wondering if I'm missing out on something important--like maybe aluminum conducts heat better and will give you a better textured brownie or something like that?

When I make fried pork or chicken, I just coat it with cornstarch only, and it comes out very crispy. No egg, no egg white, or anything else. Just make sure you shake off all the excess before putting it in the oil. (I usually just pan fry when I made those kinds of things, so I don't use much oil, etiher).

Thanks. I think my real question is. . . Since I didn't use the appropriate amount of salt, will the side pork really be cured enough to make into bacon? Or am I just going to get some sweet side pork that won't make good bacon? I think I'm going to go ahead and bake it after I rinse it and let it dry out a bit. I'd rather bake it as is, then leave it another week and potentially have it go bad. Pork is pork, after all!

Not original, but there's a place in my hometown called Baked Expectations. I like it.

Why do Tootsie Rolls have to be either fudge or taffy? They makers call it a chewy candy, so why not just accept that (unless the purpose of asking is just to pass time)? Is a chocolate caramel fudge or taffy? They're called caramels, but surely they must really be either fudge or taffy, shouldn't they? I mean, they've got a rich choclate flavour, but they're chewy. Such important questions need to be discussed. Nay, debated!

You know, some parents just give their kids teddy bears to sleep with. . . How long did it take to cook that thing? (the pasty, not the baby)

When I eventually move back, I'll be in Winnipeg for who knows how long! Calamansi is something all Filipinos love, I think, and miss terribly when they're away from home! Kim--I love that cake! If you want to send some my way, you're more than welcome to! Is that a 7-minute frosting? Or some kind of meringue (Italian?)?

I've got a wee bit of a problem with my bacon experiment. Last Friday, I got my 1kg of side pork, so I promptly put together the ingredients for maple-cured bacon. I think it's from Charcuterie. I only had half the pork, so I thought I should halve the ingredients, and I used brown sugar instead of maple sugar. I also didn't use pink salt. Now, I week later, my pork looks like it did when I started, and not a lot of water got sucked out of it. It's not really firm like I read it should be, but it's still kind of floppy like a non-cured piece of side pork. Thinking back, I think I halved the salt, but then forgot to halve the rest of the ingredients. Oops. . . so. . . .can I still save my pork? It doesn't seem to smell bad, so I don't think it's spoiled. Should I take it out and rub another ounce of kosher salt onto it? If I do that, should I pour out the liquid that's in the bag now (which includes some maple syrup)? And then how much longer should I leave it? Another week? Or should I go ahead and bake it? I'm planning to bake at 100C until it reaches 147-150F (or whatever that is in Celsius).

I've written about this before, but Mariage Freres carries a particular variety of lapsang souchong that is the smokiest tea I've ever had the displeasure of trying. I think it would be a nice complement to savoury foods, but it sucked when matched with MF desserts. To top it off, the spout of the teapot containing it was pointed directly at me (it was my friend's pot of tea), so the aroma kept wafting over in my direction. It turned my lovely chocolate tart into a barbeque chocolate tart!

Ah, makes sense. Have you tried it as pate de fruit, yet? I bet your nanny would love it! Can you use the puree interchangeably with juice? If you can, you can try this recipe for calamansi pie, but this one is almost more of a cheesecake. I will be eating calamansi vicariously through your experiences.

Qzina carries it. I've got a kilo in the basement freezer. ← 1 kg?!??!?!?! Holy cow! What are you going to do with 1 kg of calamansi puree? Maybe I don't need it that badly. That's a heck of a lot of puree!

I found a recipe for almond cake I want to try that calls for almond paste. I'm having a bit of trouble finding almond paste in Japan, but I found marzipanrohmasse. According to German Food Guide, marzipanrohmasse is Can I assume this is almond paste? The company I can get it from lists the ingredients as almonds and sugar (in that order), while the marzipan on the website has a few other ingredients in it. The almond cake recipe, by the way, is this one from Jacques Pepin.

Boiron makes a pretty good one . . . also, is that silcone mould the dessert is formed in from Pavoni? b ← Boiron has a calamansi frozen puree? I've got to find some of that when I return to Canada! I wonder if I could get it here in Japan. . .

If one of your grandparents or great-grandparents happened to be an Irish citizen, you could apply for Irish citizenship. That would make you a citizen of the EU, and free to work in any of the EU countries.

As others have mentioned, restaurants can have off days. If he visited a restaurant only once, and happened to go on a day when half the staff called in sick due to the norovirus, then his "review" (and therefore his ranking) of that place may not give a complete picture. Like when you meet a person who has just found out his wife is having an affair, but you didn't know it, so you walk away saying, "My god that guy's an a**hole!" Is he really, or is he just like that on that day at that moment? It wouldn't be as egregious if the piece were published on, for example, his personal blog, but it's presented in a national publication as a type of review. The article is titled "America's Best 25 Pizzas" not "Alan Richman's 25 Favourite Pizzas", after all. That being said, he did eat 3 times as many pizzas as places visited, so on average, he tried at least 3 different pizzas at each restaurant. That's a lot of pizza.

Great story in the New York Times about the origins of sriracha sauce. Who knew? (OK, I vaguely remember hearing a little of the story, but there was so much more!) ETA: And there are recipes!

Mmmmmmm. . .I love any kind of hand-held meat pie! If I can't get turnips, what would you suggest using instead? And if I can't get skirt, do you think flap would be OK?

Are calamansi the same as calamondin oranges? If they are, could you post your calamansi mousse recipe. I have a calamondin orange tree that makes lots and lots of oranges and I've never known what to do with them. ← Make a lemonade-like beverage! That's the best! You can pretty much use them in anything you'd use lemons or limes, but you may have to adjust sugar content in desserts. I wanted to try calamansi pie while I was in the Philippines, but didn't find any. Great with fish, especially grilled/fried fish--just squeeze it on, or make a ponzu-type of sauce. I love calamansi!

Is really is all about priorities, as many have said. I spend a large percentage of my income on food and travel, and have comparatively little in my retirement fund because of it. But I often think of my parents--they had always talked about travelling here and there, but they never did it while they were working. Then my father retired, and my mother was about to retire, so they planned their first trip to Cuba. About two months before their trip, my father died of a ruptured aneurysm. He never got to go to those place they dreamed about, and my mother never got to share those experiences with him. I've made the decision to do the things I really want to do while I can, and most of those things involve food and travel. Like Meanderer, when I travel I save on transportation and lodgings so I can spend more on food. The last time I went to Tokyo (I live near Osaka), I took the night bus (return fare cost less than a 1-way shinkansen ticket), and stayed at a cheap hotel in Shinjuku. Was it the most comfortable or luxurious travel experience? No, but I got to eat at a couple of very good restaurants, and took home a lot of really delicious sweets because of it!

I think it sounds good, too! But I can hear the complaints about the smell of anchovies wafting through the air when I nuke my lunch . . . but hey, I don't complain about their stinky perfume, and anchovies smell way better than that! Much clearer directions, thanks! I wonder what the difference in flavour would be between doing the double boiler thing (on the star chefs' site) vs. no double boiler? I'd stick some olives in there, too. And maybe some capers. Wait a minute! Isn't that a puttanesca?